The Ministry of Defence has several companies under its wing. Some of these are listed and include Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics, BEM, Bharat Dynamics and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited. Besides these it has four shipyards: Mazgaon Docks, Goa Shipyard and Hindustan Shipyard, along with Garden Reach. Amongst the shipyards only Mazgaon Docks and Garden Reach are listed. Most of the listed companies are doing well and have good traction with investors on the stock exchanges. The total market cap of all the listed companies is a little under Rs1.20 lakh crore with Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Hindustan Aeronautics being the biggest by market cap. BEL has a market cap of over Rs50,000 crore while HAL has a market cap of Rs46,000 crore. While the large companies are well researched, the smaller ones are not as well researched. Not much is known about Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (Midhani) which is amongst the smallest. Though it is not as well researched as the others, it continues to hold a lot of promise not so much for what it is but for what it can become in the future. It is one of the few companies producing advanced performance material which, according to experts, is the way forward in the industrial world. The global market is estimated to be around $7.2 billion with USA, Japan, China, Canada and Germany being the leading players. New materials like carbon composite, alloys, graphene, nano particles, amongst others, find applications across several industries be they automobiles, spacecraft, aviation or even textiles. The demand for super alloys (nickel based, iron based and cobalt based) is primarily driven by the rapid growth in the aerospace industry. Titanium alloys are also being increasingly used in the aerospace and automobile industries. A PSU, Midhani was incorporated on 20 November 1973 and currently produces various types of advanced alloys and superalloys of steel, aluminium and titanium. In the case of titanium alloys, it is the only producer in India. Besides saving on imports some of the material it produces is classified as super critical and a few countries have banned exports of the same. Some materials are based on technology developed by the Indian Defence & Development Organisation (DRDO). It produces armour steel products offering ballistic protection against a variety of weapons. Its range of products includes bulletproof jackets (aptly branded Rakshak) and bulletproof protection products for personnel carriers for parliamentary forces and VVIPs. The products are customised and fabricated according to the requirements of its clients. It also produces biomedical products which include standardised orthopaedic implants as also customised implants such as hinge knee joint, lumbar puncture needle, dynamic hip and compression systems, universal spinal systems and cages, liposuction tubes. Its titanium products are suitable for MRIs and CT scans. They are more superior than other implant materials and are corrosion-resistant and bio-compatible. They are also relatively light and have a good strength to weight ratio besides being immune to body fluids. Apart from producing materials, it also has world class facilities for testing and inspection of surgical implants where it undertakes mechanical, physical and magnetic non-destructive testing. The company also produces special metal fasteners as also various other kinds of fasteners which find applications in defence, aerospace and atomic energy. Apart from fasteners it also manufactures welding consumables. A few grades are used in strategic applications by the navy.