ECIL at Hyderabad makes Rs 1400 crore worth EVMs for 2019 polls

HYDERABAD: At the time when EVM controversy is heating up the politics, the turnover of the city-based Electronic Power Corporation of India Limited will touch highest in 2018-19 in the history of 53 years due to the production of EVMs and VVPAs on large scale for general elections.

Electronic Voting Machine production is the biggest revenue generator for Electronic Corporation of India Limited in the city with around Rs 1400 crore worth sales. In the financial year of 2018-19 due to the EVM manufacturing orders given by Election Commission of India, the ECIL has crossed the target of Rs 1800 crore and it will touch Rs 2400 crore turnover according to the ECIL sources.

Not only due to the production of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail orders but an entire lot of old are EVMs replaced with M3 version that has helped ECIL to boost the revenues. In 2017-18 the gross turnover was Rs 1275 crore. ECIL also makes electronic Fuzes for the army, Legacy Military Radios, Jammers and Passive Catalytic Recombiner devices for Nuclear Power plants. As per the annual report of 2017-18 ECIL has set a target of Rs. 1800 crore as turnover in its Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Atomic Energy for 2018-19.

An ECIL official told TOI, "The bulk orders are pertaining to EVMs and VVPATs production for the General and State Elections to be held in 2019. The turnover will touch this year around Rs 2400 crore to Rs 2600 crore. EVMs sale would around Rs 200 to Rs 600 crore previously. As the old machines are replaced with the new version the revenue has increased."

ECIL earned 17 per cent of turnover in 2017-18 amounting to Rs 222 crore is from the sale of VVPATs and other products in e-Governance segment. BEL Bengaluru is also another major manufactures of EVMs and VVPATs. Recently in Telangana elections, BEL products have been supplied.

ECIL chairman Rear Admiral Sanjay Chaubey (retd) in his report of the previous financial year stated, the Company has augmented the manufacturing facility in terms of infrastructure and machinery to meet the current requirement of EVMs and VVPATs of ECI for the upcoming general elections as per schedule.