L&T expects orders worth Rs 10,000 cr

Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is expecting orders worth Rs 10,000 crore from power, infrastructure and hydrocarbon sectors within a month. L&T, which bagged orders worth over Rs 11,000 crore in August, anticipates that the total order backlog will touch Rs 90,000 crore by the end of September.

The company’s Chairman and Managing Director A M Naik said: “With a stable government now in place and priority being accorded to infrastructure, it is expected that capital expenditure in this sector will increase and new business prospects will fructify in the later part of this year.” He added that order inflows grew 23 per cent over 2008-09. Of this, international orders constituted 15 per cent of total inflows.

“West Asia continues to be a focus area for us and we have enhanced our footprint in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region,” said Naik in the annual general meeting (AGM).

With its smaller ship-building facility at Hazira in Gujarat, the company managed an order for 10 vessels, valued at Rs 2,000 crore, according to Chief Financial Officer Y M Deosthalee. “The company has a Rs 1,500-crore capex plan for this financial year and most part of it will be spent for building the greenfield shipyard near Chennai,” he added. It is also buying a new installation barge for Rs 800 crore.

The company has decided to delay the Seawood realty project by three years, as related developments near the location is taking time.

“We will complete the project in six phases against the said three phases. Thus, it will take 8-9 years to complete it,” said Naik. With the sale of its holding in Satyam, the company expects Rs 200-250 crore profit, said Naik. The sale will be completed before March next year.