Tejas is among the many jets being manufactured by HAL

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 2

The Union Government has given its go-ahead to the sale of 10 per cent stake in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in what will be the first ever private investment in the Defence Ministry-owned company. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has initiated the process of initial public offer (IPO) with the filing of the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) on September 29 with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. The announcement had been delayed as the state-owned aerospace and defence company required concessions on putting out all data in the public domain. The public sector aircraft maker had reported profit before taxation of Rs 3,294 crore on revenue of Rs 17,406 crore for fiscal ending March 2017.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)HAL is manufacturing Tejas fighter jets, Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets under licensed production, in-house designed helicopters and trainer jet Hawk. At the February 2017 Aero India Expo, HAL had announced about the progress on the listing of the defence public sector undertaking. HAL is not in the race to build the 200 single-engine fighter jets that the Indian Air Force is seeking to induct.“This is a major milestone towards listing of the defence PSU which is slated for partial disinvestment by the Government of India,” said T Suvarna Raju, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL. (With agency inputs)