Cash-surplus BHEL in no hurry for follow-on issue: CMD

16 Jul 2009

State-run power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is flush with funds and sees no need for a follow-on public issue until at least next year, its chairman and managing director Ravi Kumar said.

He said BHEL's cash surplus position is comfortable, but if the government wants to divest further equity through a follow-on public offer, it could be done next fiscal.

"We are a cash-surplus company, but if the government wants to bring out an FPO, they can, but I think only in the next financial year," Ravi Kumar said.

BHEL, he said, has received orders worth around Rs10,000 crore during the April-June quarter.

BHEL recently bagged a Rs640 crore order for the main plant package for an upcoming thermal power project in Jharkhand, involving one new-rating unit of 270 MW.

The order for the greenfield project in Jamshedpur district, placed by Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Limited (APNRL), comes close on the heels of an order for a 600 MW thermal power plant of Korba West Power Company Limited in Chhattisgarh.