Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) surged 4.3 percent on Wednesday, March 08, to touch a 52-week high after the company signed an agreement with India's defence ministry (MoD) to provide 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft for ₹6,800 crore.
Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane along with other senior civil & military officials of MoD and representatives of HAL & L&T was present during the signing and exchanging of contracts, a press release mentioned.
During Wednesday’s trade, the stock opened at a price of Rs. 2,712 per share, closely against the previous close of Rs. 2,710.75 per share and grew during the early trading session to touch a new 52-week high of Rs. 2,828 apiece.
It was trading at ₹2,826 apiece at 11:10 a.m. on the BSE.
The stock has increased nearly 15 percent in the last one month. In the past one year, it has gained over 112 percent. Furthermore, the stock has yielded a positive return of nearly 150 percent in the last five years.
The contracts, inked in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh, mark yet another milestone in the Centre’s mission for self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to receive a much-needed boost with the introduction of the new trainer aircraft, the Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40). This aircraft, which has been on the list of weapons and systems that India has imposed an import ban on for the past 30 months, will be supplied to IAF by HAL over a period of six years.
The ministry of defence on March 7 signed contracts with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) for the procurement of 70 HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft and three cadet training ships respectively in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh," the ministry said in a statement.
“HAL would engage the domestic private industry, including MSMEs, in its supply chain. The procurement has the potential to provide direct and indirect employment to thousands of people spread over more than 100 MSMEs,” it said.
Last month, the state-owned company had reported a net profit of ₹1,155.2 crores, up 23.8% year-on-year as against ₹933.4 crores reported in the year-ago period.
Hindustan Aeronautics is a large-cap company with a market capitalisation of ₹90,644.09 crore. HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world, its website shows.
