BHEL defies global blues, posts 33% growth

The global recession had not had much impact on Public sector Bharat Hheavy Electricals here, which achieved an all time-high turnover of Rs 7,413 crore, a 33 per cent growth over last year, a top company official said today.

This figure was expected to go up to Rs 9,500 crore for 2009-10, V Ananthakrishnan, BHEL Executive Director said.

Speaking to reporters here, the PSU has registered profits for the 40th consecutive year. For 2008-09, it stood at Rs 1,603 crore, compared to Rs 1,512 crore for  2007-08, he said.
 
BHEL's unit here has bagged 25 per cent of the total orders by the company, which stood at Rs 59,700 crore, he said.

The company had received an order for supply of 2x800 MW capacity super critical boilers from Andhra Pradesh Power Development Corporation Limited for its Krishnapatnam Project, he said.

Ananthakrishnan said orders included a record number of 48 utility boilers, comprising eight units of 600 MW boilers and 13 units of 500 MW boilers, besides the two units of 800 MW supercritical versions.

To a query, he said 40 patents and 23 copyrights were filed in the year, an improvement over last year's performance.

He said about 10 orders were in the pipeline for supply of supercritical boilers, ranging from 600 MW to 800 MW, which were at different status of finalization/negotiation.

Ananthakrishnan said BHEL here would have to rely on Alstom US for another two to three years for supplying delicate components for supercritical versions, to the order of 30 to 35 per cent.

In the coming years, the percentage would reduce after supply of six or seven sets, enabling BHEL unit here to stand on its own legs, he said.