Bhel eyes 4-5 ventures to meet Railways' demand

Keen to grow its revenues outside its bread-and-butter power equipment business, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) is looking to have in place four to five joint ventures by the end of this calendar year to drive its railways plans.

The segments that the state-owned heavy industry giant is bracing itself for are diesel and electric locomotives, railways ancillary, electrical multiple units and coaches, including those for metro networks coming up in various urban cities.

“We will form joint ventures for all the railway projects that we will bid for. There may be four to five joint ventures that may be required to be formed. Railways will take up 26% equity in these projects, while the rest will be shared between the third partner and us,” a Bhel official said.

One tender that the company is set to bid for is that of the railways’ proposal to set up a facility for manufacturing EMUs and coaches. This facility will come up at Kanchrapara in West Bengal and will supply 500 units to the railways every year.

Around 150 acres of land has been earmarked for setting up the factory. The requests for qualification will be opened on May 31.



ref:
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_bhel-eyes-4-5-ventures-to-meet-railways-demand_1373761