The Bharat Electronics Limited has paid its highest ever dividend of 180 percent to the government. Chairman and Managing Director Shri VVR Sastry presented a cheque of 84.96 crore rupees to the Defence Minister here today towards 140 percent final dividend. The Secretary (Defence Production) was also present on the occasion.

With this the Navratna Defence PSU has paid a total dividend of 180 per cent amounting to 109.24 crores for the year 2006-07. This marks a 34 percent leap over the 146 percent dividend in 2005-06 declared by the defence PSU major. The BEL, granted Navratna status earlier this year, has been consistently improving its performance over the years. The company declared 100 percent dividend in 2003-04 for the first time, 112 percent in 2004-05 and has been steadily improving its balance sheet.

The BEL also achieved its highest ever turnover of Rs. 3,953 crore during 2006-07 with Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 718.16 crore as against a turnover of Rs. 3,536 crore during 2005-06 with PAT of Rs. 583 crore. BEL achieved exports of US$ 11.6 million. The turnover per employee for 2006-07 is Rs.32.1 lakhs, an increase of around 12 per cent over last year’s figure of Rs.28.8 lakhs.

Some of the significant orders executed during the year include supply of Flycatcher Radar, Reporter Radar, Surveillance Radar Element, Ellora – an Electronic Warfare System, Hand Held Thermal Imager, an Integrated Shipboard Data Network for P-17 class of ships and implementation of convergent billing for MTNL. New products introduced during the yearinclude Safari – a jammer system used for VVIP security and for protection of Army convoys, Advanced Land Navigation System, VPS Mk III – a hand-held, lightweight UHF radio for use by the defence forces, Battery Level Radar, Electronic Voting Machine Mk II and Intelligent Message Terminal.

The order book as on April 1, 2007, was estimated to be around Rs.9,100 crores. The significant orders received during the year include the Artillery Combat Command & Control System, Electronic Warfare systems, STARS V Mk II – a secure tactical radio in VHF band, and Naval Systems for P28 and P15A class of ships.

The BEL, which manufactures a range of hi-tech products like radars, sonars, wireless and electronic warfare systems for the armed forces, has made tremendous efforts towards indigenization with over 80 percent of the 2006-07 turnover accruing from indigenously designed and developed products. The company’s nine units spend nearly five percent of the turnover on R&D. The BEL, set up in 1954, also provides turnkey system solutions.