Bharat Electronics consolidated its upward spiral on Wednesday, by rising 2.5% to Rs 213.15.

The scrip of the PSU defense equipment major notched up volumes of 151,000 shares on BSE by afternoon trades.

The stock has staged a smart rally on the bourses in the last few months, though, amid intermittent correction. From a low of Rs 180.05 on 31 March 2003, the scrip has surged 18% in the past 7 trading sessions to the current Rs 213.15. From an earlier low of Rs 142.70 on 4 October 2002, the stock has jumped 49.3% in the past 6 months. The average daily volumes in the stock in the last one year (to 28 March 2003) stood at 250,000 shares.

The latest trigger for the stock has come after Bharat Electronics announced buoyant provisional results for the just concluded year (ended 31 March 2003).

The company said it turned out its highest turnover ever at Rs 2,750 crore (Rs 27.5 billion) for FY 2002-03, a 32% rise. Net profit has been estimated at Rs 395 crore (Rs 3.95 billion). BEL has a strong order book position - Rs 4,131.3 crore (Rs 41.31 billion) as of 31 March 2002, 38% higher than the Rs 2,995 crore (Rs 29.95 billion) as on 31 March 2001 and 40% higher than the Rs 2,850 crore (Rs 28.5 billion) as on 30 September 2001. This figure is expected to grow further during the current financial year. With the good order book position, sales and production are expected to pick up in subsequent quarters.

The public sector company is one of the largest manufacturers of radars, wireless communications systems and other technical equipment for the defence forces. Earlier, the company's performance was under strain due to the post-Pokhran nuclear blast sanctions imposed by the United States. However, post-Kargil, the government has realised the need to increase its focus on acquiring strategic technical equipment for the defence forces. This has dramatically changed the fortunes of the company.

BEL was incorporated at Bangalore in 1954 by the Government of India. Some divestment took place in the company in 1991-92. The government now holds 75.86% stake in BEL.

BEL introduced new and upgraded products based on in-house technology. Many of the products like decoy radars, upgraded air defence weapon control radars, coastal surveillance systems, low power transmitters, telemedicine systems, PC motherboard-based chipsets, etc. have been inducted into service or are under final stages of evaluation by various customer groups.

In November 2002, BEL signed a contract with the Union home ministry for setting up an integrated communication system for the Indian police. The Rs 97-crore network project would link Delhi and state headquarters, Union Territories and district headquarters using satellite terminals, providing fax, voice and data communication. The connectivity would be extended to police stations across the country with the help of Multi Access Radio Telephones. The project is the biggest of its kind in India, using state-of-the-art technology, and will be implemented by the Ghaziabad unit of the company in a period of 21 months.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, BEL registered a 106% rise in net profit to Rs 53.10 crore, compared to Rs 25.75 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Total income increased by 19.6% to Rs 482.59 crore (Rs 4.82 billion) from Rs 403.40 crore (Rs 4.03 billion) in DQ 2001.

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