New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS): Admitting that the staff strength in the public-sector HAL in Bengaluru is at its lowest in 15 years, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Monday that the firm was "continuously working towards right sizing the organization."

In a written reply, Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Subhash Bhamre said there was no plan to downsize the staff strength at the HAL. He also hinted at greater outsourcing by the firm in the future.

"Even though the manpower decrease is occasioned due to superannuations, resignations, etc., the requisite inductions have been done by HAL as per their organizational requirements and projects at hand," the Minister said in the reply.

"The manpower requirement is based on the present and future work load. Accordingly, HAL has been continuously working towards right sizing the organization, which would inter-alia include measures such as increased outsourcing, enhanced efficiency of its resources and inductions only in such areas which are required in critical and on long term basis," he said.

This comes close on the heels of a media report last week that for the first time in three decades HAL had to borrow around Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries to its staff.

"Our cash in hand is in the negative, we have had to borrow close to Rs 1,000 crore as an overdraft (OD). By March 31 we will have minus of Rs 6,000 crore, which becomes unsustainable. We can borrow for day-to-day work but not for project purchases," HAL CMD R. Madhavan was quoted as saying by a national daily.