Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

History

HAL was established as Hindustan Aircraft in Bangalore in 1940 on 23 Dec 1940. Hindustan Aircraft Company was duly incorporated under the Mysore Companies Act as a private Ltd Company. Walchand–Tulsidas-Khatau Ltd was the Managing agency.It first directors were: Mr. Walchand Hirachand,Chairman,Mr.Tulsidas Khilachand, Mr.Dharmsey Mularaj Khatau,Mr.A.N.Raghavachar(Mysore State Representative),Mr.Venkatanaranappa(Mysore State Representative).Company’s office was opened at a bungalow called "Eventide" on Domlur Road.The initiative was actively encouraged by the Kingdom of Mysore, especially by its Young Maharaja, H.H.Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar and the Diwan, Sir Mirza Ismail.Walchand had fist approached share holders of his own company - The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd for diversifying but was refused. Then he wrote to the Rulers of Baroda, Gwalior and Bhavanagar without success. Only Maharaja of Mysore responded favourably by agreeing to invest 25 lakhs and gave initial 700 acres of land free.

The organisation and equipment for the factory at Bangalore was set up by William D. Pawley of the Intercontinental Aircraft Corporation of New York, who had already established Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company (CAMCO) in partnership with Chinese Nationalist government in China. Pawley managed to obtain a large number of machine-tools and equipment from the United States.

The Indian Government bought a one-third stake in the company and by April 1941 by investing 25 lakhs as it believed this to be a strategic imperative. The decision by the government was primarily motivated to boost British military hardware supplies in Asia to counter the increasing threat posed by Imperial Japan during Second World War. The Kingdom of Mysore supplied two directors, Air Marshal John Higgins was resident director. The first aircraft built was a Harlow PC-5 On 2 April 1942, the government announced that the company had been nationalised when it had bought out the stakes of Seth Walchand Hirachand and other promoters so that it could act freely. The Mysore Kingdom refused to sell its stake in the company but yielded the management control over to the Indian Government.

In 1943 the Bangalore factory was handed over to the United States Army Air Forces but still using Hindustan Aircraft management. The factory expanded rapidly and became the centre for major overhaul and repair of American aircraft and was known as the 84th Air Depot. The first aircraft to be overhauled was a Consolidated PBY Catalina followed by every type of aircraft operated in India and Burma. When returned to Indian control two years later the factory had become one of the largest overhaul and repair organisations in the East. In the post war reorganisation the company built railway carriages as an interim activity.

After India gained independence in 1947, the management of the company was passed over to the Government of India.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was formed on 1 October 1964 when Hindustan Aircraft Limited joined the consortium formed in June by the IAF Aircraft Manufacturing Depot, Kanpur (at the time manufacturing HS748 under licence) and the group recently set up to manufacture MiG-21 under licence (with its new factories planned in Koraput, Nasik and Hyderabad). Though HAL was not used actively for developing newer models of fighter jets, except for the HF-24 Marut, the company has played a crucial role in modernisation of the Indian Air Force. In 1957 company started manufacturing Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet engines under licence at new factory located in Bangalore.

During the 1980s, HAL's operations saw a rapid increase which resulted in the development of new indigenous aircraft such as the HAL Tejas and HAL Dhruv. HAL also developed an advanced version of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, known as MiG-21 Bison, which increased its life-span by more than 20 years. HAL has also obtained several multimillion-dollar contracts from leading international aerospace firms such as Airbus, Boeing and Honeywell to manufacture aircraft spare parts and engines.

By 2012, HAL was reportedly been bogged down in the details of production and has been slipping on its schedules. On 1 April 2015, HAL reconstituted its Board with Mr. TS Raju as CMD, Mr. S Subrahmanyan as Director (Operations), Mr. VM Chamola as Director (HR), CA Ramana Rao as Director (Finance) and Mr. D K Venkatesh as Director (Engineering & R&D). There are two Govt. nominees in the Board and six independent Directors.

Operations

One of the largest aerospace companies in Asia, HAL has annual turnover of over US$2 billion. More than 40% of HAL's revenues come from international deals to manufacture aircraft engines, spare parts, and other aircraft materials. A partial list of major operations undertaken by HAL includes the following:

International agreements

Domestic agreements

Agricultural aircraft

Fighter aircraft

Helicopters

Engines

Trainer aircraft

Observation and reconnaissance aircraft

Transport and passenger aircraft

Utility aircraft

Gliders

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Notable People

Licensed production