State-owned defense player Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) shares saw a negative start on the bourses on February 12, as comments from the Indian Air Force Chief Marshal A P Singh on HAL's delivery record on Tejas Mk1A fighter jets soured the sentiment on the stock.
Chief Marshal A P Singh pulled up Hindustan Aeronautics for its poor track record on timely delivery of the aircraft, blaming the agency for not being in the “mission mode”.
Expressing displeasure over Hindustan Aeronautics' failure to ensure timely deliveries of the Tejas Mk1A fighter jet, Singh, while inspecting an aircraft at the air show on Monday was heard telling officials of HAL that he had "no confidence" in the state-owned aerospace company.
“I can only tell you our requirements and what our worries are. You have to alleviate those worries and make us more confident. At the moment, I am just not confident of HAL, which is a very, very wrong thing to happen,” Air Chief Marshal Singh told the top brass of the company.
However, shares of HAL trimmed intraday losses, after HAL's management explained the cause behind the delay. "The delay is not simply attributable to just I would say laziness on part of the industry. There have been technical issues which have got sorted out. The concern of the Air Chief is understandable," D K Sunil, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL said at the Aero India 2025 summit.
At 12.20 pm, shares of Hindustan Aeronautics were quoting Rs 3,585, lower by 1.8 percent on the NSE.
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“HAL is our own company. We all have worked there. I have worked there. I have also served in HAL as a temporary pilot and, of course, very closely at NFTC (National Flight Test Centre). But I find that we are just not in mission mode. Everything is 'ho jayega,” Singh added.
HAL is targeting to deliver 16 LCA Mk1A jets to the Indian Air Force in 2025, with a total of 83 jets by 2029. Project-related delays had already pushed back the first delivery, originally scheduled by March 2024.
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