HFCL

Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited (HFCL) is a leading manufacturer in the communication technology sector. It specialises in manufacturing of telecom products and optical fibre cables. The company also offers basic telephony and ISP services.

The company also deals in access equipment, terminal equipment and accessories. It was co-founded by Mahendra Nahata, Dr Deepak Malhotra and Vinay Maloo in 1987.

The market capitalisation of HFCL stood at over ₹10,500 crore as of December 16, 2023. The share price of HFCL has gained 206% in the last three years.

HFCL business operations

HFCL leads the market in manufacturing optical fibre and optical fibre cables. It has five manufacturing facilities in India—two each in Telangana and Tamil Nadu and one in Goa. HFCL has also delivered the largest defence communication networks. It caters to customers in more than 30 countries. The company also offers customised solutions for clients.

The three key industries that HFCL serves are telecom, defence and railways. In the telecom sector, it is a leading manufacturer of optical fibre, optical fibre cables and many networking products. It also offers comprehensive solutions for constructing wireless and telecommunication networks, including optical transport and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks, among other services. In FY 23, 83% of its revenue came from the services to telecom sector.

In the defence sector, HFCL provides comprehensive solutions. These include an optical transmission backbone network, a GIS-based optical fibre network, specialised solutions for multiple hybrid microwave broadband radio links in remote regions and MPLS-based dedicated communication networks tailored for defence forces. Moreover, the company specialises in designing customised defence communication and electronic products.

HFCL makes modern communication systems for metros, main-line railways and freight corridors. It also designs and implements advanced railway communication systems, including video management systems for Indian Railways.

In the last two decades, the company completed broadband connectivity across all gram panchayats in Jharkhand and Punjab as a part of the BharatNet Project. The company also established a new facility to manufacture optic fibre, capable of producing 10 million fibre kilometres annually. The company's other big milestone was increasing optical fibre cable capacities from 18.5 million km to 25 million km.

To expand its business and reach further, HFCL founded three research and development centres in Bengaluru, Gurugram and Hyderabad

Financial highlights

Total income of the company in FY23 stood at ₹4,790.4 crore as against ₹6,501.6 in FY22. The profit after tax (PAT) of the company stood at ₹317.7 crore in FY 23. Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) marginally dropped to ₹665.8 crore in FY23 as against ₹692.9 crore in FY22. Earnings per share (EPS) decreased to ₹2.18 in FY23 from ₹2.38 in the last financial year. In FY23, the total liabilities of HFCL stood at ₹2,087.3 crore.