Private firms to benefit as HAL allocates ₹25,000 crore from 156-helicopter mega deal

Representative image. (File Photo/ANI)

Having secured the mega 156 Light Combat Helicopter deal for the Indian Army and Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is looking to outsource work worth around ₹25,000 crore to private sector firms.

The Cabinet Committee on Security on Friday cleared the mega ₹62,500 crore deal, and the contract between the Defence Ministry and HAL was signed on the same day.

“We are going to follow the Light Combat Aircraft manufacturing model in this programme as well. HAL would soon be issuing tenders for involving the private sector in a big way in the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) project,” defence officials told ANI.

In the LCA project as well, different sections of the aircraft—like the fuselage and wings—have been given to different private sector companies such as Larsen & Toubro and VEM Technologies, they said.

Around 40 per cent of the work share in the ₹62,500 crore project is planned to be outsourced to private industry. This is also going to help in further expanding the defence industrial ecosystem in the country at all levels, the officials said.

HAL would be making the choppers in its Bengaluru and Tumkur facilities in the state of Karnataka.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was present on the occasion of the delivery of the first rear fuselage for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk1A, produced by the private Indian industry, Alpha Tocol Engineering Services Private Limited.

HAL is now further going to increase its engagement with the private sector to promote self-reliance and reduce foreign dependence in all its projects.

HAL is the largest aerospace firm in the country and has an order book of over ₹2 lakh crore and is expecting orders of over ₹70,000 crore in the near future.

The ₹2 lakh crore order book includes contracts for supplying 12 Su-30 fighter jets along with 83 LCA jets, of which 10 would be trainer aircraft.