Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics fell nearly 4 per cent in Friday's afternoon trade despite the company reporting a profit growth in the March quarter, as concerns around delayed Tejas Mk1A deliveries and weaker profitability weighed on investor sentiment.

As per NSE data, HAL shares were trading at Rs 4,427.00, down Rs 181.00 or 3.93 per cent in afternoon trade.

The defence PSU reported a 5.5 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit at Rs 4,196 crore for the quarter ended March 31, compared with Rs 3,977 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue from operations rose 1.7 per cent to Rs 13,942 crore.


The earnings were supported by a sharp 76.6 per cent jump in other income to around Rs 1,151 crore, which helped offset pressure on operating profitability.

Concerns around the Tejas programme have also been flagged by the Indian Air Force chief. Speaking at a public event last year, Air Force chief Amar Preet Singh had said, "So, once a timeline is given, not a single project that I can think of has been completed on time. So, this is something we must look at. Why should we promise something which cannot be achieved? While signing the contract itself, sometimes we are sure that it is not going to come up, but we just sign the contract."