The decision to ‘delink’ BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (BATL) from its parent organisation, the Indo-Russian JV BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd (BAPL), is in line with the conditions set out in the Kerala government order of March 2007 related to the transfer of State government-owned Kerala Hi-Tech Industries Ltd (KELTEC) for establishing the missile unit, the Defence Ministry has indicated.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a letter to Shashi Tharoor, MP, has stated that the “resolution to transfer BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Ltd was in accordance with the extant provisions laid out in the Government of Kerala vide the order dated March 22, 2007.”
Mr. Singh, in a September 19 letter, further stated that the said ‘transfer’ will not adversely affect employees, including contract and temporary workers engaged in critical areas. The company “will be operated in ‘as is where is basis’ with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as the majority stakeholder,” according to him. Conditions related to job security, continuity of service and protection of rights of the workers would continue to adhere to the “existing employment methodology,” according to Mr. Singh.
No official declaration
For months now, the BATL employees have been expressing serious concern over a reported move to delink the BATL from the BAPL. No official declaration has been made in this respect so far. That said, Mr. Singh’s letter, while it does not go into the particulars, does not deny that such a move is afoot. The Defence Minister’s letter has come in response to Mr. Tharoor raising the matter in the Lok Sabha in July this year. The Thiruvananthapuram MP had sought the Union government’s urgent intervention to protect the BATL.
But the BATL employees point to what they describe as a a serious discrepancy in the Defence Minister’s letter.
The Kerala government order states that KELTEC is being handed over to the DRDO with “all its assets and liabilities, including all the employees, for a consideration of ₹1 only” subject to the condition that if the Government of India withdraws either from the BATL or transfer a majority of its share to any other organisation other than those under the Centre, the first priority would be given to the Government of Kerala. This is also repeated in the ‘Deed of Handing over/Taking over’ dated March 22, 2007.
Later amended
The employees note that the 2007 order amended some months later to the effect that KELTEC was transferred directly to the BAPL, rather than the DRDO. This was done through an October 11, 2007 order, which itself was based on a September 2007 letter from the then Minister of Defence. The amendment order stated that “since the DRDO is basically a research organisation not engaged in production activities, it would be appropriate to hand over KELTEC directly to BrahMos Aerospace, considering the strategic importance of the (missile) programme.”
The other conditions remained the same. Whether the disregard for the October order would have any bearing on the BATL transfer is not clear at the moment.
Published – October 02, 2025 07:16 pm IST
