Public sector power equipment giant Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) today said it is working towards crossing the Rs 50,000-crore-turnover mark by 2012.
"We have received Rs 10,000 crore worth of orders till June. We feel there will be no let-up in orders. We are looking at a turnover of $10 billion (about Rs 50,000 crore) by 2012 and the indications in fact are that we will cross the $11-billion-mark by then," BHEL Chairman and Managing Director B Prasad Rao told reporters here today.
BHEL, which posted a turnover of Rs 34,154 crore in FY10, has been recruiting people for achieving the Rs 50,000-crore turnover mark, Rao said, adding "we recruited 4,000 people, including 1,000 each of officers, supervisors and 2,000 technical workers during the past three years. This volume would continue for the next three years."
To overcome scarcity of skilled manpower hampering the power sector expansion in the country, BHEL has embarked on major training programmes including training workmen, participating in upgrading curricula of industrial training institutes and setting up finishing schools, he said.
BHEL decided to train 800 youths at its Bangalore plant every year, adding, all its other units including those in Hyderabad, Thiruchirapalli, Haridwar and Bhopal would take similar measures to train youngsters who pass out from ITIs.
"With the country determined to add 65,000 Mw power in the 11th Plan and 1 lakh Mw during the 12th Plan, there is a major shortage of expert men like welders, cast steel labourers and other such sectors. We have taken up a major programme to train apprentices across our units. We have emerged as biggest training facility for such workers among the PSUs in the country," he said.
Rao also said BHEL would invest Rs 1,600 crore in the next three years to ramp up its capacity to supply equipment that can generate 20,000 Mw per annum by 2012. Reviewing the expansion works being taken up at its electronics division here, he said BHEL is committed to a capex of Rs 1,600 crore during the next three years to expand its capacity.
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"Our expansion plan is progressing well and we are adding capacity across the segments in which we are strong including equipment in all models of power generation,"he said.
Rao said the order book of BHEL had swelled to Rs 1,48,000 crore by the end of Q1 this fiscal when it saw of addition of nearly Rs 11,000 crore to the order book.
BHEL is also expanding its vendor base from the existing 25,000 by adding 1,000-1,200 new vendors every year. Rao said the firm is facing problems in availability of specialty materials like electric grade steel which is almost entirely imported. "We need 40,000 tonne quality steel every year and the country needs nearly 2,00,000 tonne."
Welcoming competition from private sector, he said BHEL is fully equipped to guard its market share. "We are a power major that supplies all sorts of power equipment from electronics to heavy metal. Our capital expenditure is based on brown field expansion and we spend much less compared to new players who have to spend much more on green field projects. BHEL has 90 per cent success in winning tenders. We are not facing any private onslaught as such. We have depth and control on cost," Rao claimed.