BHEL commissions 30MW hydro power project in Mizoram

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) announced that it has successfully commissioned the first unit of 2x30 MW Tuirial Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Mizoram. This is the first large-rating hydro power project in the state of Mizoram. The greenfield project is being set up by the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) on the river Tuirial. The second unit of the project is also in advanced stages of execution. Power generation from Tuirial HEP will result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and will contribute towards achieving a low carbon development path for the nation. The other hydro project of NEEPCO currently under execution by BHEL is the 4x150 MW Kameng HEP in Arunachal Pradesh. Meanwhile, the stock was trading lower by 0.74% at Rs 127 per share on BSE at 1352 hours. It opened at Rs 127 per share. It attracted a total traded volume of 17,42,417 shares and traded value of Rs 2,220 lakh. The company is presently executing around 6,000 MW of hydroelectric projects-about half of which are outside India. ref: http://www.indiainfoline.com/article/news-top-story/bhel-bhel-commissions-30mw-hydro-power-project-in-mizoram-117082900605_1.html

Its do or die for BHEL as court asks PSU to pay due amount to MSME or be declared insolvent

In a big blow to Bharat Heavy Engineering Limited (BHEL), the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has asked the PSU to either pay the amount due to a MSME under procurement policy or go to jail and be declared insolvent. The rap from the court comes as a follow up of the first ever notice served to the BHEL, the state run company which reportedly recorded a turnover of Rs 28,840 crore in the year, by NCLT in response to the plea filed by a MSME regarding pending payment for over 11 years. The PSU is now in a do or die like situation. Talking to KNN, Shishir Gupta, Director, Teknow Consultants & Engineers Pvt Ltd, the MSME that have taken the case against BHEL explained the scenario. Protesting against the denial of payment by the PSU for over 11 years, Gupta had approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to file case against BHEL under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) Responding to the appeal of the MSME entrepreneur, NCLT had issued a notice under Section 9 that mandated BHEL to respond by 21st August. He added that the legal counsel from the side of the PSU has requested the court to allow some time to be able to respond. Gupta informed that BHEL in its affidavit to court, has already accepted the liability before the bench, leaving the PSU with just two options in the next hearing of the court scheduled on Tuesday, August 29th. more at: http://knnindia.co.in/news/newsdetails/msme/its-do-or-die-for-bhel-as-court-asks-psu-to-pay-due-amount-to-msme-or-be-declared-insolvent

BHEL Clubs fall silent

Once major centre of cultural and sports activities, clubs in BHEL township have gone silent. The ATA Club, AGA Club, Sports Club and Officers Club which came into existence in mid-60s now hardly see any activity. The abandoned and deserted structures of these clubs speak a lot about the present state of affairs. Over the years, workers and executives found these clubs as stressbuster and gathered after work in evenings and at weekends. They offered the best way for socializing for BHEL staff from 1960s to about the year 2000. Post 2000 most of these clubs witnessed a decline in activities. The waning interest among staff for the clubs is due to decrease in overall staff strength and invasion of satellite TVs in homes. The state of affairs is such that ATA Club has been renamed as junior executive club. Strength of the staff in BHEL has come down to 7,000 from 22,000. ATA or Alumni of Technical Apprentices was one of the famous and happening clubs in BHEL township. "Its name was changed to junior executive club in 2015. It was because the club which was started for the group of workers are hardly available, now. Recruitment to that grade is discontinued. There is no sense to run it with the same name," said general secretary of the club, Ramesh Singh. It is a similar story with the AGA (All Grade Artisan) Club which has been known for its different indoor games and cultural activities. Cultural secretary, AGA Club, Suresh Sonpure said with the decrease in strength of workers the number of club members also drastically reduced. "Clubs are running like in the past. But, the fact is the number of members have gone down which has impacted the club activities," said Sonpure. He added that AGA Club was stared for providing an opportunity to the workers in improving physical and mental fitness. AGA Club is still known for its basketball team. "Basketball team of AGA Club used to be the strongest in the Bhopal. The team had won several major tournaments. There are still some activities in the club, but they are not like in the past," said Sonpure. Sports Club of BHEL is the worst hit. When set up, it had the best sporting facility in the state capital for indoor and outdoor sports. So much so that the BHEL Sports Club cricket ground was a regular host to Ranji Trophy matches and top cricketers used to praise its pitch and lush green outfield. The club has produced cricketers like JP Yadav, who had represented Team India. However, the time has changed and now activities are limited to few games. "Earlier, the sports club was meant for players and now it has become a walking zone for elderly. This is what I would say about the present situation of the sports club," said former Team India cricketer JP Yadav. Asked about reason for the state of affairs, Yadav said, "Whatever I could achieve in cricket was because of BHEL Sports Club where I used to practice. I can't comment as to what went wrong. However, the need is to preserve such a beautiful sports venue which has space for almost every game," said Yadav. From golf club to cricket ground, athletics and other indoor games, all facilities are available but players are missing now. BHEL Officer's Club, however, is the only centre that is host regular activities and members do turn up. Former vice-president of the club, Avinash Chandra said the officer's club has not been impacted because the number of executives in BHEL in past 40 years has remained the same. "There used to be around 900-1,000 officers in BHEL earlier and the same number is available today. The gathering is the only change. Earlier, lot of people used to visit club but now it has gone down. Now, there is social media to interact and people visit here mostly on weekends or other big gathering," said Chandra. Youth mostly visit the officers club for swimming, gym or any other cultural events like garba dance, he added. ref: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/bhel-clubs-fall-silent/articleshow/60138351.cms

BHEL made inadequate efforts to improve performance: CAG

Government auditor CAG has found that there was inadequacy of effort by state-run power equipment maker BHELBSE 0.69 % for diversification and increasing competitiveness, and it did not manage receivables properly. "Major audit findings show inadequacy of efforts for diversification, inadequate efforts for increasing competitiveness, and improper management of receivables," the Comptroller and Auditor General said in a report tabled in Parliament today. As the decade ending 2010 posed challenges to BHEL in the form of climate change, increased competition and squeezed delivery schedules with emergence of new competitors, BHEL's turnover declined sharply after 2012-13 and the company reported a loss for the first time in 2015-16. The CAG recommended that BHEL needs to develop its own products that excel over competitors through R&D initiatives and expeditious efforts should also be made to forge technological tie ups in new business areas. It also said that 'One BHEL' ERP system should be implemented expeditiously for processes and systems improvement and better coordination among units of BHEL. More at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/engineering/bhel-made-inadequate-efforts-to-improve-performance-cag/articleshow/59972092.cms

CAG raps BHEL for ‘benefiting’ Megha Engineering

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its recent report on ‘Competitiveness of BHEL in emerging markets’, has rapped the public sector engineering giant for lowering prices for its boiler and turbine, without due authorisation, benefiting Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL). Against own rules The observation relates to a transaction of 2013, when the Hyderabad-based MEIL won a contract to set up a power plant for SPEC Power Pvt Ltd. Megha, in turn, signed up to buy the boiler and turbine machines from BHEL. In April, BHEL agreed to sell boiler and turbine for ₹1,473 crore, whereas in December that year, it lowered the price to ₹1,108 crore. Such downward revision of prices is not illegal, but in this case it violated BHEL’s own internal rule which said that price revisions should be authorised by both the Chairman and Managing Director and Director — Finance of BHEL. The required authorisation was ‘not found on record’, the CAG has observed. The government of India, which responded to audit comments of CAG on behalf of BHEL, had said that MEIL had obtained an offer from a Chinese manufacturer and BHEL had to match it. To this, the CAG has said: “There was no mention of competition from Chinese firm in the price approval note dated November 16, 2013. Thus, the reduction in price was made against non-existent competition.” The auditor has also not accepted the government’s defence that the price was lowered because the scope of work was also reduced, observing that “the reduction in scope was not significant to justify the price reduction.” more at: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/cag-raps-bhel-for-benefiting-megha-engineering/article9816438.ece

BHEL, the Indian government’s heavy-engineering jewel, is in trouble

n 2012, as India was battling an economic slowdown, its government-owned power-equipment maker, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), was busy raking in a lot of money. That year, it mopped up over Rs47,000 crore in revenue and around Rs7,000 crore in profits. It even paid a dividend of Rs3.6 per share that year, making it one of the country’s top 20 dividend payers. But on Aug. 09, 2017, BHEL was rapped by India’s central auditor, the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), for its dismal performance in the last five years (pdf). Since 2012, revenues have fallen by over 40% and profits have plunged by 93%. more at: https://qz.com/1049737/bhel-the-indian-governments-heavy-engineering-jewel-is-in-trouble/

BHEL Q1 misses estimates, profit up 4% at Rs 81 cr; EBITDA loss at Rs 88 cr

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) said profit for April-June quarter stood at Rs 81 crore, higher by 3.9 percent over Rs 77.7 crore reported in year-ago quarter. Profitability was largely hit by higher finance cost and other expenses. Deferred tax of Rs 52.37 crore (against Rs 12.13 crore YoY) helped the company to report growth of 3.9 percent but excluding that numbers were far lower than analysts' expectations. At operational level, the company posted EBITDA loss (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of Rs 88.3 crore against profit of Rs 71 crore on year-on-year basis. Overall numbers missed expectations. Profit was expected at Rs 60 crore and operating income at Rs 110 crore for the quarter, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Revenue during the quarter declined 1.5 percent to Rs 5,732 crore compared with Rs 5,821 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal, hit by industry business (down 8 percent YoY) and flat growth in power business. Other expenses increased sharply 59.6 percent to Rs 889.7 crore on year-on-year basis. ref: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/earnings-business/bhel-q1-misses-estimates-profit-up-4-at-rs-81-cr-ebitda-loss-at-rs-88-cr-2356035.html