BEML plans to manufacture light infantry vehicles; roll out indigenous bullet train by 2026

Mint

28-05-2025

NEW DELHI
:
State-run manufacturing major BEML Ltd is working on developing light-infantry vehicles for combat, reconnaissance, and patrol as it expects procurement of launch platforms for missiles, including the Brahmos, to rise, said its chairman and managing director, Shantanu Roy, in an interview.
The listed firm, formerly known as Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, is also expecting more orders for high-mobility vehicles to carry heavy equipment and armoured recovery vehicles in the wake of the India-Pakistan conflict.
The public sector undertaking plans to roll out India's first long-distance, semi-high-speed trains (Vande Bharat) in a sleeper coach configuration and bullet trains by December 2026, added Roy.
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'High-speed train (bullet train) will be manufactured in Bengaluru. We are in the design stage. We would like to start manufacturing by September 2025. We will try that the first car body, the first shell, should be ready in the current fiscal year by February-March 2026. Actually, we have to build two trains, eight coaches each."
The train would have a maximum speed of 280 kilometres per hour. It would likely run on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor at around 249 kmph along with Japanese trains.
'The idea is to roll out the first train in December 2026. The second one will come, maybe, a couple of months later," he said.
The defence push
Roy said defence, train, and metro manufacturing would comprise 60% of the company's revenue in 2025-26, indicating a clear shift from mining equipment manufacturing, whose share would decrease to 40% from 53% in 2024-25.
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"Even in defence, we are expecting good orders in the high-mobility vehicles segment, and we already have some armoured recovery vehicles, overall orders for which will start flowing from this year. There will be some procurement, and we are hopeful to get orders for some high-mobility vehicles," Roy said.
He said the company would also consider developing future-ready combat vehicles (FRCVs) a few years down the line. 'We are not yet in the weaponised vehicles segment, but we are preparing ourselves to get into that segment," he said.
Roy added that the company has also developed a rigid axle platform for gun towing with an air-cooled engine, which would help operations in areas of water scarcity.
'It has already undergone winter trials. Now, it will undergo summer trials. Once that is successful, I expect orders to follow," he said, adding that in 2024-25, BEML entered the light armoured multipurpose vehicle (LAMV) segment and orders for them should flow by 2026-27.
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Moreover, he said the company has entered the maritime segment, with work underway on critical components for aircraft carriers and submarines. 'A lot of the Indian Navy requirements are currently imported. So, we are working on some 5-6 projects where we have already been identified as an Indian lead agency for indigenising some critical aggregates, critical components. The volume will not be much, but the value will be high, and it will create a lot of self-reliance for the country," he said.
BEML's orderbook stood at ₹14,610 crore on 31 March 2025. It expects orders worth ₹14,000 crore in 2025-26. 'After we execute (some orders), we'll be left with around ₹22,000-23,000 crore worth of orders (by 2025-26 end). In 2023-24, it was around ₹11,450, so the orderbook has grown by 28%. And if we are able to grow it to ₹22,000, it will be a huge jump."
The company on Monday reported a net profit of ₹292.52 crore, up 3.8% year-on-year. Its total income in 2024-25 was ₹4,045.95 crore.