God Save HAL ?

EagleOne

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This was on Tarmak007 blog

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will turn 71 this December going by its initial formation date. Undoubtedly, the backbone of India's military aviation, HAL has stood the test of time. The birth of the new millennium saw the birth of many new players in Indian aviation. They knew that they could do very little to upstage HAL's might all of a sudden. While the Company managed to become a Navratna, what was hurting HAL was its dismal HR policies -- which was world-class on paper and shocking at ground-level. This enabled many private aerospace companies to lure the best brains from HAL. Though, the Company began to recruit large number of freshers (MTs/DTs) from 2005 onward -- probably after a gap of 10 years -- it ran out of ideas to inspire these gen-next engineers, designers and executives. The top management was often fighting to save their chair and in the last one year alone the Company saw some disastrous disturbances at the top. One power-greedy director (HR) Sanjeev Sahi ran way after he was denied the top most many times. Another technical director (now retired) quit twice sighting ill-health (read as harassment) only to be posted as HR head later. And the latest was the MoD's decision to look for a new finance head, forcing the man at the helm to leave. Amidst all this chaos, the current head of HAL Nayak is all set to complete his term on October 31. Going by insides at MoD & PESB -- we are set to witness some exciting turn-around in the next few months. The big question is whether the Company is made to suffer due to the vision-less succession plans of a bunch of selfish babus? Answers to these and more on Tarmak007 with the launch of a new series 'God Save HAL', from Monday, September 5, 2011. The series will initially hover around developments based on the race to the top post -- capturing the good, the bad and the ugly -- as the PESB warms up again to pick the 16th chairman of HAL. In case if you didn't know, the PESB had already postponed the interview to the top-post twice! Let, truth prevail!

Kalam's dream-HAL goes for a toss! Are the greedy babus putting Navratna giant to a slow death?


HAL needs creative leaders. Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to the mentor, from director to delegator and from who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. HAL must introduce a lot of inspiring leaders in the organisation. This will facilitate young engineers and designers to mingle with performers, seek their guidance and get inspired to excel in their tasks. __ Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (then President), New Delhi, December 2006.

Picture 2011! Five years after Dr Kalam spelt out his vision for HAL, things are panning out exactly opposite to what the great man thought. Youngsters are quitting in large numbers; nothing substantial when it comes to ongoing\new projects; mad scramble for vacant posts; little transparency in decision-making; many heading critical projects being charge-sheeted for 'wrong-doing;' morale of work-force on an all-time low; majority of employees in the dark with no pro-active communication channels available to air their views"¦ the list is endless and not befitting to a Company that often boasts of being an aerospace giant in South Asia!

Sorry, Dr Kalam! Not sure whether the HAL you dreamt would take wing in the near future. Amidst all these man-made mess, the latest development making news is the power-struggle for the top-post. It can't get murkier than this. It is this state of affairs that prompted Tarmak007 to launch the God Save HAL campaign -- an honest attempt to track truth. As it is. Just in case St Antony didn't know, then this series could be an eye-opener for India's defence minister!

Who will be the next Chairman? There are always two sides to a story, but when it comes to HAL one would find many sides. Some hard to believe, some tempting, some backed by facts and the rest all gas and no gyan. Last few months have been interesting for HAL-watchers as the media reports on a possible coup by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to push its man for the top job caught everybody's imagination. While when one looks at the current affairs of the Company, may be that could have been the best choice. Simply, it would have put babus at bay and teach them a lesson or two on effective administration.

For the sake of discussion, let's take the example of India's Tejas programme: Until the PMT from IAF took charge at ADA, the pace of the programme wasn't healthy. What the babus didn't know, the Men in Blue knew. They bridged the gap and the programme started to move at greater pace. Communication became stronger. HAL's 'interest' in Tejas programme was on spotlight with DRDO chief Dr Saraswat mincing no words at different foras. IAF too made its stand clear by agreeing to IOC with many ifs and buts.

Back to chairman chase. Finally, Antony put an end to a possible embarrassment to HAL, by making a statement in Lok Sabha that IAF doesn't have any interest in HAL's controls, apart from being its biggest customer. The IAF man who showed interest in HAL picked-up his promotion and moved out of the race. The babus rejoiced. But the mess continued.

The PESB – the sacred body on Earth mandated to pick the 16th chairman of HAL-- is now in a fix. The interviews have been postponed twice indicating the heat and dust the crucial posting is creating. Sources tell Tarmak007 that the selection of chairman HAL was scheduled on 15th June 2011 and then on 5th August 2011. Both were postponed and the new date is not yet notified. The vacancy falls on November 1, 2011 after the current man Nayak will end his infamous tenure on 31st October 2011. (Tried hard to put together some of his achievements, but even his close aides too couldn't help. They came up with stuff like: Aero India 2011, Paris Air Show, LCH first flight, LCA IOC and so on. Sad, even my granny could have come out with better results, if she were given the mantle to run the show!).
Five external candidates were earlier short-listed by PESB and they included S.N. Misra, PCDA (Navy) Mumbai; S.S. Mohanty, PCDA (IAF) Bangalore; N.R. Myneni, CMD, MIDHANI, Hyderabad; S.K. Tripathi, CMD, MSTC, Mumbai and R.K. Tyagi, CMD, Pawan Hans, Delhi.
Now, it is confirmed by the PESB sources that the selection process is further delayed following an HAL official challenging the anomaly in the scrutiny process of PESB for short listing of candidates for interview, in the court of law. The Delhi High Court has given an order directing PESB to consider the candidature of Sudhir Kumar, Executive Director, Flight Safety, Bangalore, for the interview. A senior HR official tells Tarmak007 that this makes Sudhir Kumar the only candidate with proven background of aircraft and engine, manufacturing, overhaul experience. But, not sure whether PESB would buy this argument. And, other candidates too will have their share of points to defend their candidature.

So, will all these developments and delays play to the advantage of Nayak? Is he dreaming of an extension? Has he already made the first move? Who are the famous trio running HAL affairs? Why the media kept mum despite a virtual black-out? What are the options before Antony & Co? An insight into all these in the next part. Stay tuned!


Is poor succession plan hurting HAL badly? Strong opposition from within to Nayak's extension rumours

Give the man power to test his charac ter, so goes a saying. It goes well with most of the top brass of HAL, barring a few. The current ongoing crisis at the top is mainly due to poor succession plan in practice. For implementation of proper succession plan HAL needs inspiring leaders. Old-timers recall with fond memories the role played by late Air Chief Marshal Khatre and Dr Krishnadas Nair who led Company with glory. Both had contrasting style of functioning. "They had a vision and they were sensitive to the issues of people. Khatre was selfless, while Dr Nair was a pro-people in whatever he did," says a senior HR official.
Others have come and gone, did a lot for themselves and little for the company in terms of putting a strong second line of leaders. "It is unfair to say; we don't have capable leaders (junior to us). Just that, their capabilities are over-shadowed by self ego, favoritism and selfishness. What is hurting HAL the most is the employees are fast getting disconnected from the top management and even the company. You can't blame HR for not having good policies. We had them in the past and still have them in files. It is the question of how much the top man or his coterie wants in actual dispensation," says the official.

This clearly brings the focus again on Nayak, the man at the helm of HAL. Insiders are mincing no words at his authoritative functioning. Reads an email from one K.P.R: "It is not in good taste that we read the series on your website about HAL. But unfortunately to our bad luck whatever you are bringing out are facts. There's lot of disillusionment among middle management and youngsters and if the management is not looking into it now, it will be bad for the Company," says the mail.

While some of the emails are packed with anger and anguish, Tarmak007 also found many mails orchestrated. Reads another one: "Ashok Nayak is capable and that's why he was selected as the chairman. What's wrong if he continues for another year? There are so many projects that need his guidance (Jesus!). Are you trying to become a saint by running a series on HAL?"

Extension dreams: According to sources, a proposal has been sent to Ministry of Defence for increasing the superannuation age of chairman to 62. Sources also say that a separate proposal has already been mooted to increase the retirement age of all DGMs and above. Says an official: "I can confirm to you that we have asked MoD to increase the number of Directors from current 8 to 12. The other proposals, I cannot confirm."

"In the last five years, the government has not extended the tenure of the CMD of any PSU as a matter of principle. If any exceptions are made now, then most of the 250-plus PSUS, Maharatnas and Navratnas will be behind the government sighting one reason or the other. As an example, if Nayak is given extension, then the government will be opening a Pandora's Box," say sources.

Says an email from P. Prabhu: "No serving director should be given any extension. It will be in violation of whatever succession plan we have. The government must ensure that HAL should be handed over to capable hands. There are many DGMS, AGMS and GMs who can be groomed to be HAL's future leaders."

Extension rumours are a regular phenomenon that happens in HAL whenever the top man is about to retire. While in the past many have tried hard and failed miserably, the current stalemate in PESB selection process is making the story-tellers busy.

According to an MoD official, Antony has the powers to given extension for 3 months under special circumstances. "If it is a regular extension, then the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA) has to approve it. In the case of HAL, it is unlikely that the minister will give any extensions. No defence ministers in the past have done it, though there were proposals," the official said.

If one goes by sources within HAL, there is a clear agenda to create a TINA (There Is No Alternative) situation. The big question is whether Antony will see-through the game plan, if at all there's one? The onus is definitely on MoD, which for a long time has been turning a Nelson's eye towards the matters of HAL. The nation will be the biggest beneficiary, if Antony steps in and revamps HAL, like the way he did with DRDO.


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The CAG Report No 20 of 2011-12 (Air Force and Navy), tabled in Parliament recently, has come down heavily on Bangalore-based plane-making firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The report is critical of HAL's inability to deliver the much-needed communication sets with ECCM capabilities for IAF – which resulted in loss of time, money and non-availability of technology. "The Ministry/IAF accepted communication equipment, designed and developed by HAL, even though the equipment did not meet technical requirements. As on date, IAF's critical requirement of jam-resistant and secure radio sets has not been met even after spending Rs 116 crore and considerable period of time," says the highly critical report.
HAL was to offer airborne sets to IAF for flight trials by June 1994 and ground-based sets for trial by March 1995. The INCOM airborne sets were planned for equipping different types of aircraft in IAF with the aim of indigenization, uniformity and inter changeability of sets.
Audit observed that the performance and reliability of the newly delivered sets was also far below the requirements of IAF. Contracted specifications in the area of frequency range, speech secrecy and anti jamming etc, considered vital for flight safety of combat fleet, have not been met. This has led to aborted missions, potentially unsafe situations in the air and low aircraft availability. The ECCM modes have not been proven to be satisfactory on any aircraft.
HAL failed to rectify these defects and instead stated, in May 2008, that they had reached the limit of their technological capability to develop the sets any further. HAL, therefore, sought a permanent waiver to the deviations from the Joint Staff Qualitative Requirements (JSQRs). HAL also indicated that existing deviations of INCOM sets were due to system-architectural limitations and could not be corrected without total redesign. This would be equivalent to a de novo development cycle. The development project was closed in 2008.
The IAF stated (February 2009) that the below-par performance of the INCOM had been adversely affecting operations on aircraft fleets where the INCOM is installed. As the INCOM sets have not been able to meet the entire replacement requirement for the existing radio sets, in the mean-time, IAF continues to use the obsolescent radio sets which have outlived their life. Air HQ accepted, in February 2010, that operations are adversely affected due to continued use of the existing sets as they are unreliable and can no longer be maintained due to non-availability of spares
While HAL might continue to be India's aviation leader for some more time, its fortunes would definitely erode, if men of steel, character and vision don't lead the Company.

Source:Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence

So Express Views on this
 

Godless-Kafir

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To much bureaucracy, that has been the biggest problem for HAL and even DRDO.
 

ace009

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God save HAL?
from what? themselves?
I think HAL suffers from a systemic problem typical to our Indian public sector - too much bureaucracy, too little investment and not enough innovation.
How can we justify, being a nation of 1.1 billion people, with one of the largest network of Universities and Institutes, a huge and growing economy and some of the best scientific/ engineering students, we still cannot make a communication system for our own military?
HAL is still operating in the modes fit for a third world country, not that of a new "second world" nation (B-R-I-C-SA-SK), an aspiring superpower.
For all the "Navratan" status, HAL would not be earning a dime if it were competing against private sector (foreign or domestic) companies. Only reason it is running a net profit is because it's failures are bailed out by the government and it's successes are paid for by the government.
IMHO, HAL should be at least partly privatized and become a PPP company.
 

Suryakiran

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To save HAL? for what? There is no need to save this white elephant. If it is so inefficient, then let it fail. This will open doors for Indian private companies to enter the defence sector in a very wide scale. Private companies are for sure will be more efficiant than this government organization. HAL is one of the main reason which made the Indian defence industry as a laughing stock.
 

ace009

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I would not say HAL is the main reason - that is reserved for MoD and DRDO, but HAL is responsible for the lack of growth in India's aviation sector (both military and civilian) - for sure.
 

charlyondfi

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Dear everyone:

I will cautiously use that cure-all pill called "privitize". Know how much of USA/British defense industry spent their budget/cost on lobbying? 15% minimum (http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/06/08/the-influence-of-the-defense-industry) -- not just political donation but all those paid to lobby industry. From where do you think they will get that 15% money back?

A trackable system to reward those deliver, to replace those who don't, and a will to effective governance, I believe are the keys.
 

ace009

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Thank you for the insight. For all of us who ask for privatization of HAL or other public companies, none of us believe that the private companies are perfect. Private corporations have their own foibles, weaknesses and excesses. But in the end, they are far more efficient and on-time than the public enterprises. In terms of "bang for the buck", they are BETTER, not perfect.
Let me tell you another statistics - from an Indian perspective.

For a public sector "Navratan" enterprise in India (no names taken), involved in a mega-scale project, the CAG found that only 25% of it's budget was being used for the actual primary purpose - the rest of the 75% was being used for "administrative" staff salaries and perks (read bribes), perks for politicians and contractors (read kickbacks), "unspecified" expenditure (read stealing) and "emergency" purposes (read cover-up for incompetence).
According to CAG, in some cases, the "efficiency" (i.e. utilization of funds for actual primary purpose) is as low as 15%.

So, in India, a private enterprise wasting 15% is a good thing compared to a public enterprise wasting 85%!!
 

agentperry

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researches are enforced upon the recruited ones. the recruits join hal with a mind set that , ok its a govt company, no risk of suspension even if i dont work. they become lethargic from the day one. and when asked to do research they take it in the way just like a municipal officer takes up his work.

research is a serious issue in Indian science and technology sector. having multi level and competing projects among the work force and then giving them recognition on the basis of their performances will seriously buck up the pace of deliverance.
 

venkat

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The blogger was a (mis) chief media communication in-charge at HAL and was responsible for an in house mag called "minsk square matters" (MSM) and "The Plane " quartely magazine with a very expensive glossy finish. MSM was hugely popular and i am told that it connected all the divisions of HAL from the remotest KORWA division to the cosmopolitan Bengaluru city. I was told he was roped in during Mr,.Baweja time . Once that Chairman retired, the thinking has changed and MSM Anantha Krishnan had to make a quick exit!!!Why has he chosen only HAL to portray in poor light? Its a question of sour grapes!!! what problems are plaguing HAL are plaguing other DPSU,PSU and public enterprises too!!! Pvt sectors are only interested in making money with out investing money in Aerospace R&D and try to get order through greasing palms. check out L&T and ABS have complained when MDL joined hands with Pipavav!!!!Ppl at the helms of affairs sitting at nai dilli should have a vision ,what best can be done to improve the functioning of HAL,instead of constantly pointing fingers at it...Very few IIT grad join it and many youngsters will be leaving...some of HAL divisions are located in remote areas like KORWA ,where even crows dare to go..when so many cities with better infrastructure,rail,road and industrial base are available what was the need to open super high technology HAL KORWA by Mr. RAJIV GANDHI and another division has come up in KASARGOD,which is in another remote corner..why cant it be in Trivandrum,where HAL and ISRO/VSSC have lot in common? my freinds who work in HAL live in constant fear of getting transfered to these obscure divisions...so what can you expect?:rolleyes::rolleyes::shocked:
 
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ace009

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The blogger was a (mis) chief media communication in-charge at HAL and was responsible for an in house mag called "minsk square matters" (MSM) and "The Plane " quartely magazine with a very expensive glossy finish. MSM was hugely popular and i am told that it connected all the divisions of HAL from the remotest KORWA division to the cosmopolitan Bengaluru city. I was told he was roped in during Mr,.Baweja time . Once that Chairman retired, the thinking has changed and MSM Anantha Krishnan had to make a quick exit!!!Why has he chosen only HAL to portray in poor light? Its a question of sour grapes!!! what problems are plaguing HAL are plaguing other DPSU,PSU and public enterprises too!!! Pvt sectors are only interested in making money with out investing money in Aerospace R&D and try to get order through greasing palms. check out L&T and ABS have complained when MDL joined hands with Pipavav!!!!Ppl at the helms of affairs sitting at nai dilli should have a vision ,what best can be done to improve the functioning of HAL,instead of constantly pointing fingers at it...Very few IIT grad join it and many youngsters will be leaving...some of HAL divisions are located in remote areas like KORWA ,where even crows dare to go..when so many cities with better infrastructure,rail,road and industrial base are available what was the need to open super high technology HAL KORWA by Mr. RAJIV GANDHI and another division has come up in KASARGOD,which is in another remote corner..why cant it be in Trivandrum,where HAL and ISRO/VSSC have lot in common? my freinds who work in HAL live in constant fear of getting transfered to these obscure divisions...so what can you expect?:rolleyes::rolleyes::shocked:
The blogger may have been motiovated by "sour grapes" - that does not mean his points are wrong. As for opening new establishments in out of the place towns/ areas - it is all not negative. Actually, the costs are low, land is cheap and development reaches the poor people there too.
103 years ago, a visionary entrepreneur, with family money, started a small steel factory and a township to support it. Today, that town is the 28th largest city in India and the company is the largest steel company in India - Tata Steel and Jamshedpur.
That city was built in the middle of nowhere - (by the standards of those days) and brought that whole region up in visibility, economy and social development.
So, if Tata could do it and hundred years back, why can't GOI do it now?
 

venkat

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Ace!!! if some one wants to make a PCB or to get a thing machined , they will have to go all the way to Bangalore ,Delhi or dehradun!!! ppl have to be sent by rail all the way to bangalore and other places ... The Engineers/workers are required to be paid lakhs as TA/DAs, hotel stay etc... and the top executives fly very frequently to attend meetings in Delhi, Bangalore and other divisions ....with this kind of expenditure how can you expect HAL products to be cheap and cost effective ? If some one has medical issues ,they will have to go all the way to AIIMS delhi? Do you think a weakened and damaged heart will wait that long?oooops!!!!
 

ace009

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Venkat, think again. At this day and age, most of these complaints are meaningless.
As for having to travel to AIIMS to get treated just goes to show how very city-centric in general and "Delhi-centric" in particular development is in India. The bigshots live in cities and the bigger shots live in Delhi, so all the development is focused there and the poor folk can suck it.
A HAL like facility in any remote-pur should also have good hospitals - private or public or maybe both. When GOI builds a "township" next to a HAL facility, they must ensure that the amenities for modern living are available. good schools/ college, good hospital, shopping malls, hotels entertainment complexes should not be that hard to build. Hell, in India GOI does not even have to do anything - just provide tax discount for the first 10 years of their operations and they will find private companies flocking in to build the infrastructure. India has enough entrepreneurs and businesses to do all that stuff. Even large infrastructure projects like airports and highways an be developed by private parties. All that is needed is political will and lack of strong-arm policies by state govt and the GOI.

Why does top executives have to travel to Delhi frequently? In what other service does this occur? Even in Foreign service or Military? Nope - do you see the Chief of the Southern Command going to Delhi or Bombay every fortnight? Most meeting can and should be held over secure line teleconferences. If this is indeed the case for HAL, then something is REALLY wrong.

As for getting a PCB or something Machined - it should be done in house or by post - why would a team fly over to another facility to get something machined? In our company we get stuff delivered from across the world for very little - none of us have to fly to Canada, Germany or China to get a new prototype model machined!
 

venkat

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Ace!!! making a 14 or 12 multi layered PCB in-house will be suicidal because ,to maintain such a facility you need chemicals which have a shelf life of few months only and 99% of these come from abroad with long lead times and establishing a multi crore PCB manufacturing unit in house just to meet minuscule internal demands, is just a pure waste of money and unviable by all means and standards. Same is applicable to Medicare too!!! HAL hospitals in remote places can only manage CCF(cold,cough,Fever only and not beyond that.!!! Even in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore,holding talented Engineers from getting poached by companies like Honeywell ,HCL,TCS,infosys, moog etc...has become a Herculean task !!!! Do you think Engineers with real brains especially the younger ones from prestigious institutions will join HAL and work in remote corners and stick there? HAL management recruits hundreds of youngsters and trains them in IITs and other management academies. Instead of serving HAL, these ppl simply jump over the fence for a lucrative career!!! So HAL instead of exporting planes, is ending up exporting manpower to Honeywell,Tata Aerospace etc...God save HAL!!!!!:rolleyes:
 

SpArK

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'Reverse move to divest public stake in HAL'


The CPI(M) demanded that government rescind its decision to divest 10 per cent stake in state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, claiming that the ruling coalition was "succumbing to pressure" from Indian and foreign defence firms which could endanger national security.

"The CPI(M) demands the reversal of the HAL divestment, which could well be a precursor to deeper inroads by Indian corporates or even foreign defence majors at a later time," the party Politburo said in a statement.

It also sought a roll back of the policy of privatisation and opening up the defence industry to foreign participation, saying such measures would "lead to dismantling of India's hard-won technological self-reliance besides endangering national security".

Terming government's "excuse" that HAL needs funds for modernisation as "untenable", it said that with orders having increased by over Rs 8,500 crore and huge contracts in the pipeline including through 30 per cent offsets of several large defence purchase orders, "HAL has numerous other options for raising funds."


"It is clear the government is succumbing to pressure from corporates who are only looking for substantial and assured profits from a larger share of India's burgeoning expenditure on defence acquisitions," the CPI(M) said.

Opposing the government's divestment move, it said HAL would be the third defence PSU in which the state has off- loaded stake after Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Earth Movers Limited.

"HAL is not only much larger, it is also more strategic, being the only aircraft manufacturer in the defence sector and the largest in Asia," the CPI(M) said.

'Reverse move to divest public stake in HAL' - Indian Express
 

Singh

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Today is the 100th Anniversary of HAL.
 

ace009

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'Reverse move to divest public stake in HAL'


The CPI(M) demanded that government rescind its decision to divest 10 per cent stake in state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, claiming that the ruling coalition was "succumbing to pressure" from Indian and foreign defence firms which could endanger national security.

"The CPI(M) demands the reversal of the HAL divestment, which could well be a precursor to deeper inroads by Indian corporates or even foreign defence majors at a later time," the party Politburo said in a statement.

It also sought a roll back of the policy of privatisation and opening up the defence industry to foreign participation, saying such measures would "lead to dismantling of India's hard-won technological self-reliance besides endangering national security".

Terming government's "excuse" that HAL needs funds for modernisation as "untenable", it said that with orders having increased by over Rs 8,500 crore and huge contracts in the pipeline including through 30 per cent offsets of several large defence purchase orders, "HAL has numerous other options for raising funds."


"It is clear the government is succumbing to pressure from corporates who are only looking for substantial and assured profits from a larger share of India's burgeoning expenditure on defence acquisitions," the CPI(M) said.

Opposing the government's divestment move, it said HAL would be the third defence PSU in which the state has off- loaded stake after Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Earth Movers Limited.

"HAL is not only much larger, it is also more strategic, being the only aircraft manufacturer in the defence sector and the largest in Asia," the CPI(M) said.

'Reverse move to divest public stake in HAL' - Indian Express
Firstle, whatever the CPI(M) says, is BS and the government should do exactly the opposite. The communists in India are still caught in a time warp, where government-owned is good and private is bad, no matter what the numbers/ stats show. GoI should not only divest the 10% of HAL that they planned, they should divest another 50% of HAL (to 60% private) - so that the government has a strong say, but cannot actively "manage" the company. For security purposes, they can limit the private ownership by a single entity to 25% or so and limit FDI to 20% or so.

Secondly, the CPI(M) is factually wrong in more ways than one. HAL is not the largest aircraft manufacturer in Asia - the two Chinese companies are larger. Also, HALs orders are still mostly coming from MoD/ GoI, which means the so-called "fund-raising" is nothing but public money being utilized by HAL. If part of it is used for "modernization", then that much is lost from manufacturing of the actual products and thereby diminishes the quality of the delivered aircraft. THAT is a larger national security risk than who owns a part of it. Finally, BEL and BEML are doing better than before, so no reason HAL should do worse.

IMHO, HAL should have 26-30% GoI ownership and rest should be sold to multiple private companies, a private ownership cap (for now).
 

ace009

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Ace!!! making a 14 or 12 multi layered PCB in-house will be suicidal because ,to maintain such a facility you need chemicals which have a shelf life of few months only and 99% of these come from abroad with long lead times and establishing a multi crore PCB manufacturing unit in house just to meet minuscule internal demands, is just a pure waste of money and unviable by all means and standards. Same is applicable to Medicare too!!! HAL hospitals in remote places can only manage CCF(cold,cough,Fever only and not beyond that.!!! Even in a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore,holding talented Engineers from getting poached by companies like Honeywell ,HCL,TCS,infosys, moog etc...has become a Herculean task !!!! Do you think Engineers with real brains especially the younger ones from prestigious institutions will join HAL and work in remote corners and stick there? HAL management recruits hundreds of youngsters and trains them in IITs and other management academies. Instead of serving HAL, these ppl simply jump over the fence for a lucrative career!!! So HAL instead of exporting planes, is ending up exporting manpower to Honeywell,Tata Aerospace etc...God save HAL!!!!!:rolleyes:
How do you think Boeing and LM (or other private companies) do it? Firstly, make the salaries competitive in the industry so that engineers are motivated to join HAL. Second, give the employees stock options (can only do it if it is privatised), which is further motivation. Finally, make the workplace nice enough that employees would NOT like to leave just to be in Bombay.
Finally, make it a part of the contract that an employee leaving HAL cannot work for a direct competitor for next 3 years or so, which would be a stick in the carrot and stick policy. That would cripple the chances of an experienced engineer from turnover. Again, tonnes of good engineers live in Jamshedpur, which is no Bombay, Bangalore or Delhi - right? How does Tata manage that? It's a human resource management practicality - that GoI currently has NO idea about.
As for making PCB, if you build it, you will use it. I think the usage of a system is a LOT dependant upon availability in countries like India. In my time doing research there, if we had something in-house, it would be running near capacity, while if we did not have it (but needed it), we would always try to work around it. Our work will be slower and of somewhat lower quality, but better than NOT being able to do it, because the nearest available one was 500 miles away!
So, again, GoI can solve all these problems if they are committed.
 

agentperry

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HAL should be trifurcated into maintenance and repair company to cater the need of all the forces requirement for fleet upkeep, production and manufacturing wing for ToT planes and indigenous planes and helicopters and finally R&D facility for indigenous equipment design and imported system integration effort.
the design or blueprint of any craft being developed or bought in will be shared by all the companies and respective efforts should start to produce it in production company and indigenization in case of foreign equipment by the R&D company. the repair firm will come into field after induction, moreover it can suggest important points and factor regarding repair and upkeep of equipment which are being developed or are being considered for ToT.

this thing will bring more efficiency in all the companies and if either of firm fails to deliver then specific restructuring can be done instead of blaming whole of the hal at once as in present scenario
another advantage will be that specific company can be divested for eg only repair firm can be divested as there is no harm of divesting a firm of such kind moreover it will bring more expertise into it in form of private managers and foreign collaboration.

here wastage of funds can also be bought under control as money for R&D will go directly to R&D firm, money for repair will go to repair firm.
 

ace009

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Interesting read ...

Bangalore, Nov. 9:

.

The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) expects to pick the four lead managers in the next week or ten days to run defence enterprise HAL's disinvestment process.

Eleven merchant bankers — including Goldman Sachs (India) Securities, Barclays Securities (India), SBI Capital Markets, Enam Securities, Edelweiss Financial Services, Morgan Stanley and Kotak Investment Banking — are in the fray after submitting their bids until Tuesday evening.
Business Line : Markets / Stock Markets : 11 banks in fray to handle Hindustan Aeronautics public issue
 

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