New LCA deal takes HAL’s order book to Rs 83,000 crore

Bengaluru, Feb 4 : The new contract to deliver 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA Mark-1A) Tejas to the Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken up the order book value of its maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to Rs 83,000 crore, its chief said on Thursday.
“Excluding Rs 9,000 crore for taxes, the cost of delivering 83 LCAs to IAF will be Rs 37,000 crore, which increases our order book value to Rs 83,000 crore in fiscal 2021-22 from about Rs 53,000 crore brought forward from 2020-21,” HAL Chairman R. Madhavan told reporters here.
Designed and developed by the city-based Aircraft Development Agency (ADA) of the government’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Tejas is the world’s only light combat aircraft (LCA) in the 4.5 generation category.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on January 13 approved the purchase of 83 Tejas Mark-1A variants, including 10 trainers for the IAF for Rs 48,000 crore from HAL.
This is in addition to the 40 LCA Mark-1 order the IAF placed in 2016 with HAL to deliver for setting up two squadrons of the fighters.
“When we get orders to make 70 Hindustan Turbo Trainer (HTT-40) and 65 Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) from the IAF, the value of our order book will touch Rs 1 lakh crore in this fiscal (2021-22),” Madhavan said on the margins of the ongoing 13th biennial Aero India 2021 expo at the Yelahanka air base.