Red tape forces BHEL to drop overseas plans: report

Even as it continues to win contracts within the country and abroad, engineering giant Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has dropped all its existing overseas acquisition plans, citing bureaucratic hurdles it faces on account of being a state-owned company, according to a report in Livemint.

''We have problems when we want to acquire firms overseas. There are a host of procedures that we need to follow, which is not the case with private firms. For everything, we need to float a tender. Even if we want to make an acquisition through a private firm, we need to float a tender to find a strategic partner,'' an unnamed senior BHEL executive was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, BHEL has secured an order for the main plant package at the upcoming Bela thermal power project (TPP) in Maharashtra, involving one new-rating unit of 270 mw.

Valued at Rs703 crore, the order for the greenfield power project, located in Nagpur district of Maharashtra, has been placed with BHEL by Ideal Energy Projects Ltd. The order comes close on the heels of an order for a 600-mw thermal power plant of Korba West Power Company Ltd in Chhattisgarh.

According to the company, major private sector customers have been reposing confidence in BHEL, and in fiscal 2008-09, orders worth over Rs13,000 crore were placed on the company by Jindal Power, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, GVK Power, Hindalco, HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd., Adani Power, Tatas and ACC, among others.