N R Mohanty: Reaching for the Sky

Abstract

Recently accorded a ‘Mini Ratna’ status by the Government of India, Hindustan Aeronatics Ltd a Rs 3030 crore (30 bn) public sector undertaking, is all set to take off, making forays into the civil aviation sector, space projects and services, and entering into joint ventures and international alliances where technology transfer is an important outcome.

The man of the hour, N R Mohanty, Chairman, HAL, who is spearheading its metamorphosis, spoke to N M Agrawal, S Chandrashekar and Subhashish Gupta about how increased competition is driving better pricing systems and greater productivity. With defence budgets coming down in India, as in the rest of the world, and liberalisation bringing new challenges and opportunities in its wake, diversification and a global outlook seem to be vitally necessary for survival and growth. Still in the growth phase while world aviation is in recession, the Indian aviation industry has tremendous potential. Today not one of HAL’s plants is idle; in fact they are likely to be overloaded in the near future. And with its three big new products, the Advanced Light Helicopter, the Light Combat Aircraft and the Intermediate Jet Trainer, HAL is in a strong position to leverage its strategic capability to get into the commercial market. Mohanty describes the initiatives taken towards this end, and also details the advantages HAL hopes to reap from restructuring and outsourcing, while at the same time working towards developing an indigenous engine in order to avoid the problems of buying out, including embargos, delays and unsuitability to local conditions. While marketing is admittedly not a strong point at the moment, he believes that the JVs with foreign companies, the management training given to new recruits, and the policy of empowering the divisional heads will help strengthen the company in this area. Mohanty also talks about his HR policies that aim at a lean organisation, getting the best out of every single individual, the monitoring system and incentive schemes, and the strong values of integrity, credibility and quality that have established HAL as an organisation to be reckoned with.