Of late, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has seen its trade receivables, primarily from its main client, the Government of India’s Ministry of Defence, rise from Rs 4,220 crore in March 2017 to Rs 9,845 crore on 30 September 2018, according to financial data put out by the PSU. These receivables account for the highest amount of debts reported by HAL since 2012. “Debts from the government departments are generally treated as fully recoverable and hence the company does not recognise credit risk of such financial assets,” the company has stated in their filings.
According to HAL Chairman, R Madhavan, it is projected that, by the end of this financial year, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will owe Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) some Rs 20,000 crore including Rs 7,000 crore carried forward from the previous year. Significantly, while the MoD has held back HAL’s payments over this two-year period, it has remitted funds to foreign vendors “on schedule”. Dassault Aviation has reportedly received some Rs 20,000 crore in tranche payments towards 36 Rafales contracted for in September 2016 while another Rs 2,000 crore have been paid annually to Boeing for contracts signed in 2015 for Apache and Chinook helicopters.
Deliveries of Rafale fighters are scheduled to start later in 2019, as also Chinooks and Apaches. On the other hand, as Chairman and Managing Director Madhavan points out: “The IAF owes HAL money for aircraft, helicopters and services that we have already delivered. Current dues are Rs 15,700 crore and will rise to Rs 20,000 crore by 31 March 2019.” Madhavan says he will request the Defence Secretary to ask the IAF to pay at least part of its dues immediately. “The army and navy have always paid on time”.
Being kept on the side-lines by the MoD over payments, HAL has entered an unprecedented scenario where it is finding difficult to even meet the monthly salary bill of Rs 358 crore and to keep HAL’s production and maintenance line running. Financial statements of HAL also record that the firm was confident (until mid-2014) of being awarded the contract build 108 Rafales under licence from Dassault Aviation. The company’s annual report for 2013-14 has recorded that HAL was gearing up to produce the French multi-role combat aircraft, negotiations for which were then “at an advanced stage”.
In his message of 27 September 2014, attached with in the company’s 2013-14 annual report, then chairman of HAL Dr RK Tyagi had stated that the “Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) is another programme which will be crucial to our achieving manufacturing excellence… World class manufacturing practices will get imbibed into our working. Your company needs to synthesise these manufacturing best practices through this programme.”
Non-payment by the Indian Air Force illustrates how foreign procurements have strained its finances. Despite the IAF receiving lion’s share of the defence capital budget this year — Rs 35,756 crore, compared to the army’s Rs 26,688 crore and the navy’s Rs 20,848 crore — payments to overseas vendors have left the IAF with no funds to pay HAL for the equipment it has already received, which includes Sukhoi Su-30MKI and Tejas fighters, upgrades on the Mirage 2000 and Jaguar fighters, and continued supplies of Dhruv and Rudra advanced light helicopters.
With little hope of getting payments soon, HAL has had to institute austerity measures. A letter from the company’s finance director states: “The current cash flow situation of the company is very critical. Against our annual budget requirements of Rs 19,334 crore during 2018-19, so far only Rs 6,415 crore has been allocated and the money received… this has necessitated that HAL borrow funds from banks, some Rs 781 crore as on 31.12.2018.”
Asked whether HAL’s mandatory public statements reflected this decline, Chairman Madhavan stated: “Outstanding dues are reflected in HAL’s quarterly statements and reports. Until the last quarter, we had a cash balance of Rs 700 crore. But that has been steadily run down and the report for this quarter will reflect a negative cash balance.”
Earlier, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament that HAL had orders worth Rs 65,000 crore “in the pipeline”. While HAL has already clarified on that statement, revelations about the IAF’s non-payment indicates that the current crisis is not only about shortage of orders but about non-payment for orders received and fully discharged. Traditionally a “cash-rich firm” HAL has steadily transferred Rs 11,024 crore of its cash reserves to the government. In 2015-16, the MoD ordered an “equity buy back scheme” that required HAL to transfer Rs 6,393 crore to the government, which the firm made in two tranches, Rs 5,265 crore in 2015-16 and another Rs 1,128 crore in 2017-18. In addition, over the past five years, HAL paid the government dividends and taxes worth Rs 4,631 crore: Rs 1,041 crore for 2013-14; Rs 576 crore for 2014-15; Rs 755 crore for 2015-16; Rs 963 crore for 2016-17 and Rs 1,295 crore last year.
According to the HAL report, order book position of the company as of 31 March, 2018 totalled Rs 61,123 crore, which included orders for 25 final-phase production Su-30 MKI fighters, 12 Tejas LCA Mk.Is (IOC) and 20 Tejas LCA Mk.Is (FOC) for the IAF. HAL’s order book also included 12 Dornier 228 aircraft for the Navy plus four for the IAF; 17 Advanced Light Helicopters for the Navy, 16 for the Coast Guard, and 40 for the Army; 10 Cheetak helicopters for the IAF, six for the Army and eight Chetak helicopters for the Navy.