'Our EVMs Cannot be Tampered With', Says BEL CMD Gowtama

Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited’s (BEL) order book as on April 1, 2019 stood at ₹51,798 crore as compared with ₹40,115 crore in April 2018. During the year 2018-19, company has acquired ₹23,431 crore worth of new orders. The expenditure on R&D was ₹1,077 crore as against ₹988 crore in 2017-18. The value added per employee was ₹60.38 lakh in comparison to ₹45.86 lakh the previous year. On the export front, order book stood at $116.62 million as on April 1, 2019.

In his annual press conference, M V Gowtama, chairman and managing director, BEL said “about 96 per cent (provisional) of sales revenue accrued is from indigenous technology and of the company’s ₹51,798 crore order book, major customers were Indian Navy around ₹25,000 crore, Indian Army ₹9,000 crore and the Indian Air Force ₹8,800 crore.”

“Of late, the company which had heavy defence focus has begun to diversify more on civilian applications and has identified space electronics, solar, homeland security, smart card, telecom, railways, civil aviation and software as service,” he added.

Electronic Voting Machines

BEL has supplied 74 per cent of the Electronic Voting Machines and VVPAT to Central Election Commission for the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

“For the company, EVM-VVPAT business contributed substantially and we earned a revenue of ₹2,600 crore by supplying around 10 lakh EVM-VVPAT sets,” said Gowtama.

Allaying fears of tampering, CMD said "No mismatch was reported between votes recorded in EVMs and VVPAT machines during the Lok Sabha elections. Not even a single case of any such mismatch was reported from our machines.”

He further said, “There is no scope for any mischief in EVMs. All post-poll controversies over EVMs have settled now. Political parties know well that EVMs cannot be tampered with.”

ISRO satellites

“After assembling and building one satellite for ISRO, we have got confidence now of going ahead to build future satellites by partnering with Indian industry. This year, we are expecting more orders from ISRO,” Gowtama said.

“To take it forward, the company has bought 30 acres in Devanahalli, near Bengaluru allotted by KSSIDC. Here we plan to build separate facility specially to cater to ISRO’s satellite needs,” he added.

Mobility card

BEL is keen to be part of the national common mobility card (NCMC) mission.

Gowtama said, “To be part of the mission, so far we have tested and proved many concepts with products in the country. In Ahmedabad, we have installed fare collection gates for metro with an open access. This can be applicable to any metros operating in the country. In Maharashtra, we are working with the state transport corporation for supply of hand-held devices and with NHAI toll collection system as part of a national project with a single mobility card for pan-India usage.