Chinese firms steal a march over Bhel for overseas orders

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) isn’t just struggling with orders drying up in India, it’s losing out to competition in overseas markets as well, especially in Africa and to Chinese power generation equipment manufacturers such as Dongfang Electric Corp. and Shanghai Electric Power Co. Ltd offering friendlier financing. In the domestic market, the Indian government’s move last year to increase the import duty on power generation equipment to 21% from 5% earlier to thwart competition from Chinese manufacturers hasn’t helped much. “In the overseas markets, everyone is asking for financing. The Chinese are doing it in a big way. But the Indian government is not keen to fund big projects. They are funding small projects,” said a Bhel executive, requesting anonymity. Bhel is looking abroad for contracts over fears its domestic market share may decline given the hurdles faced by domestic power projects. The company’s orders dropped to Rs.31,528 crore in the year ended March from Rs.60,507 crore in 2010-11, although it’s an improvement over Rs.22,096 crore in 2011-12. more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/HzKwmNsU1E9YNaGUoeLo9L/Chinese-firms-steal-a-march-over-Bhel-for-overseas-orders.html