Bharat Forge's BHARAT-52 long-range 155mm/52 Calibre Howitzer

Bharat Forge net profit jumps 77% to Rs 228 cr. Looking at ₹1,000 cr defence revenue in 3 years

Leading auto component engineering company Bharat Forge expects its revenue from defence business to exceed ₹1,000 crore in three years (from about ₹400 crore now) helped by potential orders from the Indian Army in the area of artillery guns and other equipment.

The Pune-headquartered company has set a target to become the biggest player in the artillery gun segment by 2025 as it sees this category as its sweet spot. This product has huge share of forgings, a space Bharat Forge has a strong domain and market expertise.

Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Forge Baba N Kalyani pointed out that the tide was turning in favour of domestic manufacturing of defence equipment and Bharat Forge is ready to seize emerging opportunity in the Defence orders.

“Our overall revenue is about ₹6,000 crore now and the defence business accounts for about ₹400 crore. I would imagine that in three years’ time our defence revenue will be well above ₹1,000 crore,” he told BusinessLine. The company sees favourable business potential in supply of artillery guns and anti-aircraft guns in the near term.

“Indian Army needs 4,000 artillery guns. They have not got their new guns for the last 15 years. Each ‘Made in India’ gun will cost about ₹15 crore, but if they import it will cost ₹48 crore per gun,” he said.

Kalyani stated that Indian Army’s proposed artillery gun procurement programme is valued at about ₹50,000 crore over a period of 15 years and for the first time Made in India guns are expected to enter the race with strong capabilities.

Bharat Forge has already invested ₹300 crore to set up a unit for artillery guns in Pune and the factory can make 250 guns a year today. “We have invested ahead of demand as this was set up four years ago,” he said.

Kalyani also believes that its supply of guns to the Indian Army will pave the way for exports and it hopes to script a success story similar to what it has achieved in exporting auto component.