HAL, Apollo Micro, Cochin Shipyard Lead Gains: Defence Index Outperforms Broader Market

Indian defense stocks stayed firm on Monday, extending last week's momentum from a spate of order wins and new contract announcements. 

At the time of writing, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) was up 1.3%, Apollo Micro Systems climbed 4%, and MTAR Technologies eased 1.6%. The Nifty India Defense index gained nearly 1% in early trade, outpacing a flat broader market.

Cochin Shipyard, Data Patterns (India) and DCX Systems were among the other top movers, rising between 2% and 4%. Bharat Electronics, Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Paras Defense, and Mishra Dhatu Nigam also traded higher.

So far this month, HAL has rallied about 7%, Apollo Micro Systems surged 71.8%, and MTAR is up 8%.

Order Wins And Contracts

Sector sentiment has been lifted by a string of order wins. The Ministry of Defense has begun talks on the Indian Air Force's proposal to acquire 114 'Made in India' Rafale jets, a ₹2 lakh crore project with more than 60% local content.

HAL received its third GE-404 engine for the Tejas Mk1A fighter under a $716 million deal with GE, with plans to scale up to 30 jets a year by FY27. Apollo Micro Systems signed an MoU with U.S.-based Dynamic Engineering & Design for rocket propulsion systems. MTAR announced ₹386 crore in new clean energy and fuel-cell orders.

And on the policy front, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh approved the revised Defense Procurement Manual (DPM) 2025, which revised the framework for all revenue procurement valued at ₹1 lakh crore in the current year. 

Technical View 

SEBI-registered analyst Mayank Singh Chandel stated that the defense index had been declining since June but showed signs of strength by late July.“Yesterday, it broke above a falling trendline - a sign that the sector might be starting a fresh uptrend,” he said.

Chandel highlighted BEML, Bharat Electronics, HAL, and Mazagon Dock as names to watch, noting that all had cleared important resistance levels.“If the sector continues upward, they could perform well,” he added.

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