BHEL Bangalore PBT Rs 200 cr

Two divisions and a group in Bangalore of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have posted profits before taxes of Rs 200 crore for the year to March, up 125 per cent.

Sales, at BHEL, Bangalore, grew 24 per cent in the same period, to Rs 818 crore, a release said here on Tuesday.

During the year, orders at the electronics division, the electroporcelain division and the industrial systems group, grew 42 per cent to Rs 1,417 crore, taking the outstanding orders to Rs 1,990 crore, the release said.

A milestone was the successful commissioning of a unified control and instrumentation solution for a 500 MW thermal station at Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh and successful synchronisation of another 500 MW unit at Rihand in Uttar Pradesh.

The company also commissioned the first two sets of 55 MW hydel plants in Karnataka. This is based on a new control and automation software called maxDNA, the release said.

The technology, licensed from a US-based firm, Metso Automation, made the operations of power plants more efficient. BHEL was setting up a 500 MW thermal power plant in Bellary for the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited, using this technology, the release said.

BHEL, which also makes solar panels, has electrified some 300 police stations in rural Karnataka and built "space quality" batteries for the Indian Space Research Organisation.

During the year, BHEL's quality checks for insulators was rated the "best ever audited" by United Kingdom's National Grid, the release said.

The company has introduced smart cards-based pre-paid electric meters and has entered into the water management projects market also, the release said.