HAL falls after report suggests Tejas jet suffered damage during training sortie earlier this month

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the maker of Tejas light combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force, fell as much as 2.97% to hit an intraday low of ₹4,046 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, February 23.

On the BSE, Hindustan Aeronautics shares fell as much as 3.05% to hit an intraday low of ₹4,045.60.

Press Trust of India (PTI), citing authoritative sources, reported that a Tejas light combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force sustained major damage to its airframe after it overshot the runway at a frontline airbase following a suspected brake failure earlier this month.

The fighter jet met with an accident on February 7, following which the IAF grounded the entire fleet of around 30 single-seat Tejas jets to carry out an extensive technical scrutiny, a PTI report said.

It was the third accident involving the Tejas jets. The first one took place in March 2024, when a Tejas jet crashed near Jaisalmer. The second incident took place in November 2025, when a Tejas jet crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Airshow.

The latest accident comes at a time when Tejas maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has missed several deadlines to supply the Tejas Mark 1A variant of the aircraft to the IAF.

In February 2021, the Defence Ministry sealed a ₹48,000 crore deal with HAL for the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets for the IAF.

Earlier this month, reports surfaced which suggested that HAL was left out of the race to develop India’s fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, or the AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) programme, the first time that the state-run aircraft maker will not be involved in one of the country’s most significant military projects, the Hindustan Times reported.

Seven players participated in the competition to be selected for designing and developing five AMCAs with ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency). These included Adani Defence, Mahindra Defence, HAL, Tata Advanced Systems, L&T and Bharat Forge.

Out of these, the media reports said, Tata Advanced Systems, Bharat Forge and L&T were selected for the further stage. The final bidder will be shortlisted in coming months to develop aircrafts with ADA.

As of 10:45 am, HAL shares traded 3.2% lower at ₹4,039, underperforming the NIFTY NEXT50 index, which was up 0.1%.