Bharat Electronics posted subdued Q1 earnings but the management has maintained their FY22 guidance. CNBC-TV18 spoke to Dinesh Kumar Batra, Director Finance at BEL, to discuss the company’s performance.

On guidance, Batra said, “BEL cannot be assessed on a quarter-to-quarter basis. Mostly in Q1, we are making these larger systems and equipment, where the dispatches start in third and fourth quarter. First quarter goes into planning procurement, all those activities. This time in the Q1, we have fallen a bit short of the targets we had set for ourselves due to the most furious second wave of COVID-19. BEL suffered, the loss of life of our many senior employees, there were lockdowns and all the factories were not working. The domestic as well as global supply chains were disrupted, we could not get the materials from our transfer of technology (ToT) partners etc., so because of all those interruptions, we have fallen bit short of the targets that we had set.”

He further mentioned, “But there is no such shifting of the things to Q2, because most of the things will be happening in the third and fourth quarter. I am maintaining that our revenue growth will be in the range of 15 to 17 percent, we are very confident of achieving that. When I say 15-17 percent growth that means I am talking about executing orders between Rs 16,000-16,500 crore.”

On commodity prices and shortage, Batra said, “Whatever is happening in the economy, BEL will not be totally aloof from it so the rising commodities, especially metal prices and some of the semiconductor shortage which has been felt so slightly, that will also be affecting margin.”

For full management commentary, watch the video.

(Edited by : Dipika)