PSU power plant equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals hopes to maintain a fair market

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share despite the entry of companies like L&T, Toshibha-JSW and Alstom in power plant equipment manufacturing in the country.

“Bhel's product profile includes entire chain of equipment. Our power plants are made in various units and a number of technologies have been implemented by the company. We manufacture not only main product boilers, but also its auxiliaries, turbine and its auxiliaries, generator and control instrumentation systems, among others. So, this gives a lot of depth for the company to maintain its ability to compete in the market,” B Prasada Rao, chairman and managing director of Bhel said.

Bhel also has well-established service network across the country and we can reach any customer within no time. Recent example is Srisailam hydropower station, which was underwater since October 2. The company started attending to that unit from October 6 and all the units have been commissioned in the past six weeks. This was a record. So, this is a kind of service capability, which Bhel has established, he said.

While there are early-mover advantages, Bhel has also been continuously working on many of the cost improvement initiatives like design, cost and lean manufacturing. However, competition will be there. “We have been facing competition right from mid-1970s both internationally as well as in the domestic market, and we have been winning. Our record of winning international competitor bids has a high percentage. So, all these strengths should make the company get a fair market share, Rao pointed out.

Bhel has secured about 55 per cent of the total equipment order of about 33,000 mw for the 12th Plan. Another 70,000 mw is still to be finalised as per the plan. Rao said Bhel is also looking at other segments like transportation, transmission, and renewable energy. “We are looking at forming special purpose vehicles for addressing some of these businesses,” he said.