Bharat Electronics

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company with about nine factories, and several regional offices in India. It is owned by the Indian Government and primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Armed Forces. BEL is one of nine PSUs under the Ministry of Defence of India. It has been granted "Navratna" status by the Government of India.
History.
Bharat Electronics Limited was founded in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India in 1954.
Starting with the manufacture of a few communication equipment in 1956, BEL started producing receiving valves in 1961, germanium semiconductors in 1962 and radio transmitters for AIR in 1964.
Under the government's policy of decentralisation and due to strategic reasons, BEL set up new units at different location across the country. The second unit of BEL was set up at Ghaziabad in 1974 to manufacture radars and Tropo communication equipment for the Indian Air Force. The third unit was established at Pune in 1979 to manufacture image converter and image intensifier tubes.
The agreement for setting up BEL's first joint venture company, BE DELFT, with M/s Delft of Holland, was signed in 1990. This later became a subsidiary of BEL with the exit of the foreign partner and has been renamed BEL Optronic Devices Limited.
The second Central Research Laboratory was established at Ghaziabad in 1992. The first disinvestment (20%) and listing of the company's shares in the Bangalore and Mumbai Stock Exchanges took place in same year-1992.
In addition, new products and technologies including software defined radios, next generation bulk encryptor and high data tactical radio were also on show. Airborne products displayed included radar finger printing system, data link, digital flight control computer and identification friend or foe. Also on display were the complete range of optoelectronic equipment, including night vision devices, digital handheld compass and an advanced land navigation system.
BEL is the lead integrator of Akash, the Indian-made guided missile air defence weapon system. Another major system is weapon locating radar, the state-of-the-art passive, phased array radar which has undergone successful user trials by the Indian defence forces.
Products.
BEL designs, develops and manufactures a range of products in the following fields:
Some products are manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd. with help of ToT (Transfer of Technology).
Locations.
Bharat Electronics Limited has its units in the following cities of India.
Subsidiaries.
BEL Optronic Devices Ltd. is a subsidiary company of BEL. It was founded in 1990 with the aim of conducting research, development and manufacture of image intensifier tubes and associated high voltage power supply units for use in military, security and commercial systems. The company is headquartered in Pune and earned aggregated revenue of during the fiscal year 2007.
Joint ventures.
BEL Thales Limited
BEL-Thales Systems Limited is a joint venture company (JVC) between Bharat Electronics Limited and Thales. Incorporated on 28 August 2014, the company is located in the BEL Industrial Estate, Jalahalli, Bengaluru.
GE-BE Pvt Limited was set up in 1997 as a joint venture between Bharat Electronics Limited and General Electric Medical System. The facility based at Whitefield, Bangalore, manufactures X-ray tubes for RAD & F and CT systems, as well as components such as high voltage tanks and detector modules for CT systems. The products are exported worldwide and meet the safety and regulatory standards specified by FDA, CE, MHW, AERB and the facility has been accredited with ISO-9001; ISO-13485 and ISO-14001 certifications. GE-BEL also markets the conventional X-ray tubes made at the Pune unit of BEL. The turnover of GE-BEL during 2004–2005 was over ₹4.50 billion (US$97 million) including an export of over ₹4.30 billion (US$92 million). The company has been recognised for its outstanding export performance since 1998 by the Export Promotion Councils.
Ownership.
As of September 2018, Bharat Electronics Limited is primarily owned by the central government (66%), Mutual funds and UTI (14%), Foreign institutional investors (6%), individual investors (5%) and insurance companies (4%).
Corporate social responsibilities.
BEL is involved in various community development initiatives wherever it is present across India. BEL has its own educational institutions among them one is special school for the mentally challenged students. It has set up hospital, crèche and other welfare measures for its employees and their dependents.
BEL assigns some resources for social causes. When it completed 50 years of existence it allocated a good amount of funds for celebration. Approximately ₹40 million was spent on society related initiatives. BEL has set up an Electronics Gallery at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in Bangalore and Chennai.
BEL encourages a culture of community initiative at its manufacturing unit level and ensures all employees take part in these initiatives.
Recent development.
Bharat Electronics is forming some joint ventures to achieve technical excellence. Bharat Electronics Limited has set up a joint venture with General Electric (GE) USA, for manufacturing high voltage tanks and detector modules for computed tomography (CT) scan systems and advanced level of X-ray tubes. The company is in the process of joining with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to set up a joint venture to make solar photovoltaic components. BEL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Indus Teqsite, Chennai, for the design and development of digital subsystems for its equipment, test systems for its radars, avionics and electronic warfare, and another with the French company Thales International to set up a joint venture for civilian and defence radar. BEL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Textron Systems to provide nicro-observer unattended ground sensor (UGS) systems to the Indian security agencies.
Customer Co-ordination Cell.
Recently BEL has set up a Customer Co-ordination Cell. The customers of BEL comprise members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary, Coast Guard (India, Seychelles, Maldives, Sri Lanka), Police, Doordarshan, All India Radio, Department of Telecommunications and consumers of professional electronic components are allowed to register their complaints with the Customer Co-ordination Cell by phone, fax or the Internet.