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The market expects Bharat Electronics to do better than it ever has.
At today’s share price, buyers are assuming Bharat Electronics grows about 25% a year, forever. Over the last ten years it actually grew about 16% a year. So the share price only makes sense if the business improves on its own track record. If it simply carries on as before, buyers today have paid for something they will not get.
- How it is valued: Discounted cash flow.
- What the price assumes: 25% growth, against 16% the model takes from its own record.
- Ten-year record: Between FY2018 and FY2026, Bharat Electronics' revenue went from ₹10,485 crore to ₹27,610 crore — it compounded at about 13% a year over 8 years.
- Biggest swing factor: Order inflow. Main risk: One customer.
01The electronics inside India's defence
Bharat Electronics (BEL) is a state-owned defence electronics company based in Bengaluru and majority-owned by the Government of India. It makes radars, sonars, communication systems, electronic-warfare suites and the electronics for missile systems such as Akash.
Most of its revenue comes from India's armed forces, but it also makes electronic voting machines, and is building non-defence businesses in areas such as railways, homeland security and exports.
02What the market is assuming
Work backwards from today's share price and you can see what buyers are quietly taking for granted. Here is the growth that price implies for Bharat Electronics, next to what the model assumes from the company's own record.
The further apart these two numbers are, the bigger the bet a buyer at today's price is making.
03Bharat Electronics' record, in plain numbers
Between FY2018 and FY2026, Bharat Electronics' revenue went from ₹10,485 crore to ₹27,610 crore — it compounded at about 13% a year over 8 years. Net profit grew from ₹1,431 crore to ₹6,062 crore, about 20% a year — faster than revenue, so margins widened. In FY2026 it kept 22.0% of revenue as net profit — against a low of 13.6% in FY2018 and a high of 22.4% in FY2025. The latest year added 16.2% to revenue, well ahead of its own long-run pace.
Revenue and earnings per share in ₹, return on equity and leverage as ratios — all from the filed statements.
Revenue and net profit by year (₹ crore)
| Year | Revenue | Net profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2018 | 10,485 | 1,431 | 13.6% |
| FY2019 | 12,164 | 1,887 | 15.5% |
| FY2020 | 12,968 | 1,825 | 14.1% |
| FY2021 | 14,109 | 2,100 | 14.9% |
| FY2022 | 15,368 | 2,400 | 15.6% |
| FY2023 | 17,734 | 2,986 | 16.8% |
| FY2024 | 20,268 | 3,985 | 19.7% |
| FY2025 | 23,769 | 5,323 | 22.4% |
| FY2026 | 27,610 | 6,062 | 22.0% |
04How Bharat Electronics gets valued — and why
Discounted cash flowThis business is valued on the cash it is expected to generate, discounted back at its cost of capital — with growth taken from its own ten-year record rather than from guidance.
05What decides Bharat Electronics' value
Order inflow
New defence orders set revenue for years ahead.
Margins
Rising localisation and scale have lifted margins steadily.
Execution
Delivering on time converts the order book into profit.
Exports and civil business
New markets reduce dependence on one customer.
06What could go wrong
- One customer. Revenue depends on India's defence budget and procurement.
- Order timing. Large orders can slip from one year to the next.
- The valuation. A high price assumes the growth continues.
07What the full BEL valuation shows
Sign in free to see the complete Bharat Electronics valuation
- ✓Fair value per share — from a ten-year discounted cash flow, every step shown
- ✓The Workbench — change revenue growth, the discount rate or terminal growth and watch BEL's value move
- ✓Bull, base and bear cases — and exactly which assumptions move between them
- ✓Peer comparison — against Hindustan Aeronautics, Siemens and Larsen & Toubro
- ✓Downloadable report — the full write-up, yours to keep
08Compare Bharat Electronics with peers
The same valuation, run side by side.
Bharat Electronics vs Hindustan AeronauticsDefence electronics against aircraft, both order-book led with one buyer.→Bharat Electronics vs Siemens IndiaState defence electronics against private industrial automation.→Bharat Electronics vs Larsen & ToubroBoth won on order books, one in defence and one in engineering.→09Questions people ask about Bharat Electronics
What does Bharat Electronics make?
Radars, sonars, communication and electronic-warfare systems, missile electronics and electronic voting machines.
Why have BEL's margins risen?
More of each system is designed and made in India, and higher volumes spread fixed costs.
BEL or HAL — which is better value?
Both are state-owned defence companies valued on the same cash-flow model; the comparison page sets them side by side.
Is Bharat Electronics overvalued?
At ₹401 the market is pricing in roughly 25% sustained growth, against the ~16% its own record supports. That is more than it has delivered, so the price is justified only if the business can hold a rate it has not previously sustained.
What is the intrinsic value of Bharat Electronics?
It is computed from the filed financial statements using the method that fits this business (discounted cash flow), with every assumption shown alongside the result. The per-share figure and the full working are in the report.
How much debt does Bharat Electronics carry?
Debt to equity stands at 0.00, against 0.00 at the start of the period — the balance sheet is a core input to the cost of capital used here.