Bhel targets seven-fold increase in overseas biz

NEW DELHI: Engineering firm Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (Bhel) has set a target of increasing its overseas business to 10 billion dollars from the current four billion dollars as part of its 'Strategic Plan 2012'.

"The company is looking at exports as one of the key growth-drivers and is targeting a 7-fold increase in physical exports from the current levels," Bhel said in a statement.

Bhel plans to position itself as a regular engineering procurement construction (EPC) contractor in the international market and pursue the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) route to avail inorganic growth opportunities for enlarging its export operations.

The company said it had an outstanding physical export order book of over one billion dollars and had recorded a 49.25 per cent increase in its contracts at Rs 1,903 crore in 2006-07 as compared to the average yearly contracts of Rs 1,275 crore in the last five years.

Bhel said it has received power equipment contracts of over 900 MW and transformer capacity orders of 5,600 MVA from across ten countries and made successful forays in several new market segments, the statement said.

The orders include a 240 MW ADB-funded gas turbine-based power plant at Siddhirganj from Bangladesh's Electricity Generation Company on EPC basis, orders from Jordan-based MGI's 500 MW gas turbine-based power plant, besides contracts of gas turbines for co-generation application 2x26 MW for Oman Refinery Company.

It has also received contracts for renovation & maintenance and upgrade of Varzob Hydro Project of Barji Tajik from Tajikistan, compressors from French Grande Paroisse (a Total Group company) and 23x125 MVA transformers from Egypt.