Product support centre to come up in Kochi

Kochi: The Navratna defence PSU Bharat Electronics (BEL) will open a product support centre at Kalamassery in Kochi.

The centre was opened to address the product support activities for the Indian Navy, National Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) of DRDO, Cochin Shipyard and BEL’s outsourcing partner, Keltron.

The foundation stone for this will be laid by the Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, at a function on Wednesday (November 26) at the site. The product support centre is coming up at the Kinfra Hi-Tech Park at Kalamassery.

Kinfra, a statutory body of the State Government, provided 6.2 acres of land to BEL in the Hi-tech Park on lease for 90 years.

Set up in Bangalore in 1954, BEL has grown into India’s foremost defence electronics company, a Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Defence. BEL is a multi-product, multi-technology, multi-unit conglomerate, boasting of over 350 products in the areas of military communication, radars, naval systems, telecom and broadcast, electronic warfare, tank electronics, electro optics, professional electronic components and solar photovoltaic systems.

Nearly 80-85 per cent of the company’s annual sales turnover accrues from products sold to the Defence Services. The company’s turnover has been on a steady rise. During 2007-08, it achieved a turnover of Rs 4,102.54 crore.

The company has been making profits continuously for more than four decades and rewarding its shareholders with handsome dividends.