HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LIMITED

HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LIMITED

The Company which had its origin as Hindustan Aircraft Limited was incorporated on Dec 23, 1940 at Bangalore by Shri Walchand Hirachand, in association with the then Government of Mysore, with the aim of manufacturing aircraft in India. In March 1941, the Government of India became one of the shareholders in the Company and subsequently took over its management in 1942. In collaboration with the Inter Continental Aircraft Company of USA, the Company commenced its business of manufacturing Harlow Trainer, Curtiss Hawk Fighter and Vultee Bomber Aircraft. In January 1951, Hindustan Aircraft Limited was placed under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. In August 1963, Aeronautics India Limited (AIL) was incorporated as a Company wholly owned by the Government of India to manufacture MiG-21 aircraft under licence. Factories were set up at Nasik (Maharashtra) and Koraput (Odisha). In June 1964, the Aircraft Manufacturing Depot which was set up in 1960 at Kanpur as an Air Force unit to produce the Airframe for the HS-748 transport aircraft was transferred to AIL. Amalgamation of the two companies i.e. Hindustan Aircraft Limited and Aeronautics India Limited was brought about on Oct 1, 1964 by an Amalgamation Order issued by the Government of India and the Company after the amalgamation was named as ‘Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, (HAL)’. Its logo has a colourful revolving globe being circumscribed by a plane, its tracks and its acronym in Devanagari and English in sans serif bold italics font.