Hindustan Aeronautics shares in focus after ₹2,901 crore order win from Defence Ministry

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), will be in focus on Wednesday, March 4, after the Ministry of Defence signed a contract for Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) Mk-III (MR) with the company on Tuesday.

The announcement was made on Tuesday evening and the order, worth ₹2,901 crore will be placed under the Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured category

Scope of the order for the ALH Mk-III (MR) will include operational role equipment, an engineering support package, and performance-based logistics support.

The induction of these helicopters aims to enhance the Indian Coast Guard's capabilities for safety of artificial islands, offshore installations, fishermen and the marine environment.

Hindustan Aeronautics was in the news last month after reports had suggested that the company has not been included in the bidding process for the AMCA project, which is valued between ₹1.5 lakh crore to ₹2 lakh crore.

In response, the company had told CNBC-TV18 that execution is not an issue for the company and that they already have a total of 14 LCA Mk1A aircraft ready with 24 set to be ready by the end of the current financial year.

CMD DK Sunil also said that once the five ACMA prototypes have been developed, the final production order will still be open to HAL for bidding, and the company has not factored it in to their earnings estimates yet.

On February 23, HAL shares fell after another report from news agency PTI had indicated that the Indian Air Force has grounded the entire fleet of around 30 single-seat Tejas jets for an extensive technical scrutiny, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

In response, the company said in an exchange filing that there has been no reported crash of the LCA Tejas and that the event in question was a minor technical incident on the ground.

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics had ended 1.1% higher on Monday at ₹3,956.9. The stock is down 6% over the last one month.