HAL Ranks Above Dassault In An American Publication Survey

New Delhi: Good news for defence PSU is coming from a bit far quarters.State-run Hindustan Aeronautics ranks higher than France's Dassault Aviation, based on defence revenue, including sales that support military efforts, intelligence and aspects of homeland security. Among the top 100 defence companies in the world, HAL ranks 38 while French Aircraft Manufacturer Dassault takes the 44th spot, says an independent survey by American publication Defense News.

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) is the only other Indian defence company to feature in the list, taking up the 59th position.

"How we do it is to rank companies by defence revenue — that is, sales that support efforts in the military, intelligence and aspects of homeland security. It's a tactic that we believe isolates the one statistic that best reflects market presence," a Defense News report says.

"How we do it is to rank companies by defense revenue — that is, sales that support efforts in the military, intelligence and aspects of homeland security. It's a tactic that we believe isolates the one statistic that best reflects market presence,"

The deal for the purchase of 36 Rafale planes made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a major political storm ahead of this year's general elections as a result of the escalating price and the choice to pick Reliance Defence, which is owned by billionaire Anil Ambani. While Reliance has no aeronautical expertise, it was chosen instead of HAL, which has a long history of making planes.

HAL's defence revenue, which was 2,720 million USD in 2017, recorded an 8 per cent drop from its previous year's revenue, which was 2,518.60 million USD. The public-sector company's total revenue that year was 2,830 million USD. Dassault, a privately owned and publicly listed company that manufactures and sells military and civilian aircraft globally, saw defence revenue of 2,124.19 million USD for the year.