Bharat Electronics Limited: India’s defending Champion

Posted in: The Business Times – India Report 2017 Started by Franz Fricke

Bharat Electronics Limited: India’s defending Champion

From glaciers in the Himalayas to monsoon-drenched coastlines stretching from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, India is a diverse and beautiful country which the Indian government is sworn to protect.

‘Our state-of-the-art defence electronics solutions help safeguard India’, says M.V. Gowtama, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). ‘We are committed to meeting the specialized electronic equipment requirements of the Indian Defence Services’,

M.V. Gowtama - Chairman & Managing Director

M.V. Gowtama, Chairman & Managing Director Bharat Electronics Limited

BEL, initially a manufacturer of defence communication radios and radars, is today the preferred tier one supplier of complete defence electronics equipment and systems end to end solutions for defence platform manufacturers including Reliance Defence and Hindustan Aeronautics. The company also exports products to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia and many other friendly countries.

After successfully building a coastal surveillance system for the Indian Coast Guard, BEL is establishing similar systems in the Seychelles and the Maldives. BEL products are also being used in homeland security and smart cities.

BEL’s air defence systems, particularly the medium range surface-to-air missile system ‘Akash’ and the upgraded anti-aircraft weapon system ‘Shilka’ are also proving successful in India, and further afield.

The company grew seventeen per cent last year and Gowtama plans to achieve this same figure in 2017.

‘My priorities today are to align BEL with the increasing demands of the Indian defence industry while further developing our export business’.

BEL has been active in Southeast Asia for almost twenty years through the company’s Singaporean office which handles procurement, marketing and customer support. With opportunities across the region, BEL is establishing more offices in the ASEAN region to better serve customers.

‘Our customers’ see BEL as a good company to partner with’, says Gowtama. ‘We will continue to forge long-term alliances and create a strong marketing force which will meet the needs of customers around the world’.