BHEL will be Rs 50,000-cr firm by 2012, says CMD

Power equipment blue chip BHEL expects to outstrip its revenue target for 2012 and become a Rs 50,000-crore ($ 11-billion) company, its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr B. Prasad Rao, said on Monday.The company, which closed fiscal 2010 with revenue of Rs 34,000 crore, is likely to sustain the 20-25 per cent annual growth rate through 2017, Mr Rao, who is evaluating the two Bangalore units' ongoing capacity expansion programme, told a news conference.

No let-up in orders

The first three months this fiscal registered orders worth Rs 10,000 crore. “A number of tenders are in the pipeline. We expect that there is going to be no let-up in the orders. We had a cumulative average growth rate of around 25 per cent during the Eleventh Plan period. We expect this kind of growth rate till 2017,” Mr Rao said.Mr Rao said BHEL remained a preferred player with a 90 per cent success rate in winning tenders in spite of growing competition from private players.

The company was in the middle of a three-year Rs 1,600-crore plan across its units to augment capacity to deliver equipment that can generate 20,000 MW by 2012, up from the present 15,000 MW.The cumulative order book was worth Rs 1.48 lakh crore. “In line with it, we are also augmenting our manpower. In the last three years, we recruited 4,000 people each year. But we have constraints of quality manpower, such as welders and fitters,” Mr Rao said,

The company trains welders at its institute in Tiruchi, has adopted ITIs and shapes their curriculum. Yet, “Today's ITI products are not immediately employable and need to be trained further,” Mr Rao said.Vendors as well as materials such as castings, forging and the special steel were also not adequate, he admitted; the company was educating its base of 25,000 vendors and adding around 1,200 new ones each year to increase outsourcing to them.

SOLAR PROJECT

The company was cautiously selecting a suitable technology provider for its ambitious solar photovoltaics project proposed with fellow PSU, Bharat Electronics Ltd. “We are debating the choice of technology and may finalise a partner in about two months,” Mr Rao said.