BHEL upbeat about overseas market

Tiruchirapalli, Aug 11 (IANS) Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) continues to be upbeat about its overseas business and does not see any slump due to the economic slowdown in major economies, said a top company official.

"The markets that have shrunk are not our markets. Our focus is on Africa, Middle East and South East Asian markets. Some of the countries, like Libya and Yemen, that experienced internal disturbances are now returning to normalcy," B. Prasada Rao, chairman and managing director, told reporters here Friday night.

Rao is holding review meetings here with officials of the company's boiler division located in Tiruchirapalli or Trichy, which is around 350 km from Chennai.

"We have recently bagged an order for supply of equipment for Rs.950 crore from Bhutan. We have orders from Syria (400 MW), Yemen (600 MW) and 500 MW from Sudan. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with south Sudan for supply of 70 MW power plant and co-generation power plant in a sugar mill located in Ethiopia," Rao said.

According to him, the company has around Rs.8,000 crore of overseas orders.