Hyderabad, May 10 Astra Microwave Products Ltd (AMP) plans to tap opportunities in the export market and ‘offset’ policy of the defence sector to propel its growth.
The Hyderabad-based Rs 115-crore listed company, focused on high-end microwave technologies, is in talks with EADS (Germany), Thales Aerospace (France) and Electronica (Italy) to export niche products.
The over 20-year-old company meeting the demands from the country’s strategic and telecom sectors, has positioned itself as a certified vendor. One area it is optimistic is in Integrated Circuits (ICs) for microwave applications, Mr B. Malla Reddy, Managing Director of the company, told Business Line.
The company is also looking at export markets in CIS countries, he added.
Offset opportunities
Astra Microwave is gearing up to tap big opportunities for the Indian industry, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a result of the Offset Policy of the Union Ministry of Defence, by strengthening its research and manufacturing base around Hyderabad. It also bagged an order from ELTA of Israel under the Offset clause.
ELTA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), the biggest defence company there, gave the company a Rs 55-crore order for the supply of TR modules (Transmit & Receive), he said. “ELTA was the first company to get an order under the Offset policy and we got a sub-contract,” he added.
For ELTA, Astra and L&T are offset partners in the project to supply Medium Power Radars. By July, about 50 units of the TR modules would be supplied and from August about 1,000 units, he said.
Under the Offset Clause, any global company winning a defence contract has to mandatorily invest a minimum of 30 per cent of the contract value within India.
In the multi-million dollar multi-role combat aircraft project of the Indian Air Force also Astra has signed up with Raytheon Corporation and Northrop Grumen, the bidders for the supply of radar components.
The company has built larger capacities at its units near the Hardware Park on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The logic is to be geared up for scaling up and executing large orders on schedule, Mr Reddy explained.
Astra is also a major supplier of the TR modules to the Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), Bangalore, which is spearheading the Indian AWACS system (Airborne, early warning system).
Source : Business Line