India has approved a ₹52,000 crore defence procurement package to accelerate military modernization, building on the emergency acquisitions triggered earlier this year. Defence stocks rallied immediately — but which companies have the filing data to back up the optimism?
We dug into the latest quarterly filings and earnings transcripts of NSE-listed defence companies to find the ones best positioned to capture this spending. The pattern is clear: the winners aren’t just the ones that make defence equipment — they’re the ones with order books deep enough to execute at scale.
Bharat Electronics (BEL): ₹73,882 Crore Order Book, 16% Revenue Growth
BEL is the most direct beneficiary. Per their FY26 annual results, BEL achieved revenue from operations of ₹27,479.63 crores — a growth of 16.15% over FY25’s ₹23,658 crores. The company’s order book as of April 1, 2026 stood at ₹73,882 crores — nearly 2.7x annual revenue.
In their Q3 FY26 earnings call, CMD Manoj Jain detailed the backlog: LRSAM, BMP II Upgrade, Akash Army, Ashwini Radar, MPR Arudhra Radar, and electronic warfare systems dominate the order book. For FY27, management guided revenue growth above 15%, EBITDA margins above 28%, and order inflows exceeding ₹55,000 crores. With the new ₹52,000 crore procurement, that inflow target now looks conservative.
HAL: Order Book at 6x+ Annual Revenue
Hindustan Aeronautics delivered FY26 revenue of approximately ₹33,090 crores, with Q4 FY26 alone contributing ₹13,943 crores — HAL’s business is famously back-loaded. Per the FY26 earnings transcript, the order book stands at more than 6x annual revenue, providing multi-year execution visibility.
Management noted that they expect approximately ₹1 lakh crore in additional orders, which would take the book-to-bill ratio to 8-9x. In the defence and aerospace sector, they explained, a backlog of this magnitude provides structural revenue visibility. The new procurement package — which includes fighter jets, helicopters, and ammunition — flows directly through HAL’s manufacturing ecosystem.
Data Patterns: The Margin Machine With a ₹2,062 Crore Order Book
Data Patterns is the standout among mid-cap defence electronics players. FY26 revenue hit ₹924.77 crores, up 30.5% from FY25’s ₹708.35 crores. But the real story is margins: per their Q3 FY26 investor presentation, gross margins stood at 77% and EBITDA margins at 45%.
The order book reached an all-time high of ₹2,062 crores in FY26, with inflows of ₹1,121 crores — a 216% year-on-year increase. These orders span radar systems, avionics, electronic warfare, and strategic electronics. Management flagged a pipeline of ₹2,000–4,000 crores over the next 24 months, well before the latest procurement boost was announced.
Astra Microwave: ₹2,226 Crore Order Book, 82% Defence Revenue
Astra Microwave Products is the purest defence play by revenue concentration. Per their Q3 FY26 investor presentation, 81.7% of revenue comes from defence, with the remainder split across space, meteorological, and exports.
The standalone order book crossed the ₹2,000 crore mark for the first time, reaching ₹2,226 crores as of December 2025. Defence PSUs and DRDO labs account for ₹1,477 crores of that backlog. Nine-month standalone revenue reached ₹668 crores with a 25% EBITDA margin. The company is also expanding through collaboration with Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and exporting radar components to Israel, the US, and Singapore — a diversification that adds resilience beyond domestic procurement cycles.
Zen Technologies: Order Delays Behind, ₹1,336 Crore Book Ahead
Zen Technologies had a difficult FY26 — revenue from operations fell to approximately ₹688 crores from ₹974 crores the prior year, per their Q4 FY26 quarterly results. Management was candid in their earnings call: FY26 was a year where order conversion timing was delayed beyond what they expected.
But the forward picture has shifted. During Q3 FY26 alone, Zen secured orders worth ₹586 crores, and an additional ₹345 crores came in shortly after — ₹931 crores in just four months. The consolidated order book stands at ₹1,336 crores, with the majority scheduled for FY27 execution. Zen specializes in simulation and training systems for infantry, armoured corps, and air defence — capabilities that become critical as forces modernize under the new procurement package.
What retail investors should do
The ₹52,000 crore procurement is real money entering the defence supply chain, but timing matters. BEL and HAL have the scale and existing backlog to convert orders into near-term revenue — they carry the lowest execution risk. Data Patterns and Astra Microwave offer higher growth potential with impressive margins but trade at steeper valuations. Zen Technologies is the highest-risk bet — a recovery story where FY27 execution must catch up to the order book.
Don’t chase the rally blindly. Look at book-to-bill ratios — BEL at 2.7x, HAL at over 6x, Data Patterns at 2.2x, and Astra Microwave at around 2.5x. Higher ratios mean more years of revenue visibility but also longer execution timelines. Match your holding period to the company’s delivery cycle.
Data sourced from company filings on NSE via Xaro.