Bharat Forget expects good performance from its defence business quarter after quarter and at present eighty percent of the defence business is exports, the company’s CMD Baba Kalyani said on August 11.

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“Most of our defence business today, I would say 80 percent is all exports, which is a big surprise to us because we see huge demand coming from different countries for different products,” Kalyani told CNBC-TV18.

According to the CMD, one of the reasons why Bharat Forge is getting business is that all these products have been designed and developed by the firm, the IP is owned by it. “We are not dependent on technical collaboration or joint ventures. That is a good strategy that we have pursued for the last 10 years in defence,” he explained.

Kalyani’s remarks come two days after Bharat Forge reported a profit increase of 27.8 percent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 311.5 crore for the April to June 2023 quarter. The firm’s standalone revenue for the quarter under review went up 20.9 percent YoY to Rs 2,127.3 crore compared to Rs 1,759.4 crore in the year ago period.

There is a huge pipeline of orders on the domestic side that is under process which is quite complex. “We are very confident that our defence vertical will show stellar results quarter after quarter,” he said.

Bharat Forge highlighted discussion is already underway for 307 guns of advanced towed artillery gun systems (ATAGS). “There is another RFP for mounted guns which is also of similar number. On the ATAGS, there are two players Tatas and us, so it will get divided. On the mounted guns, there may be more than two players, but ultimately it will get divided into two players.

Therefore, the firm is looking at an opportunity in the next one year of Rs 3,000-5,000 crore for guns. Kalyani believes Bharat Forge will strive to become an artillery house on a global basis and that is based on the strategy of producing products on its own.

Bharat Forge makes an array of critical and safety components for several sectors including automobiles.

The company expects Rs 1,200 crore revenue in the defence space in the current fiscal and Rs 2,400 crore in the 2024-25 financial year. Of this, Rs 800-900 crore is likely to be exports, Kalyani said.

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