BEML to invest Rs 680 cr in new, existing facilities

Earth moving equipment maker BEML Ltd plans to invest Rs 680 crore in new and existing facilities by 2012-13 and expects a turnover of Rs 4,200 crore for the current fiscal, BEML's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V.R.S. Natarajan, told a news conference on Monday.

The latest move is a Rs 100-crore, 18-MW wind energy project in Gadag to meet its energy needs. It recently signed a preliminary deal to start a Rs 316-crore aerospace products greenfield at an SEZ coming up near the Bangalore airport.

Another Rs 100 crore will be invested to revive the troubled public-sector Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation in Durgapur, West Bengal; BEML jointly won the bid for MAMC last week along with Coal India Ltd and Damodar Valley Corporation.

“This year, we expect to comfortably cross sales of Rs 4,200 crore. The next goal is to reach Rs 5,000 crore, which we should be doing in [fiscal] 2012, although this was to be achieved in 2013-14, the 50th year of the company,” Mr Natarajan said.

The defence public enterprise has traditionally operated in military trucks as well as mining and construction equipment, but sharpened the focus on rail and metro coaches in recent years.

Two years ago it entered the aerospace business — which it says has already scored Rs 50-crore business and will reap good dividends for it later. “The rail and metro area is the engine of growth for BEML. We are also bullish about aerospace, mainly design and manufacturing opportunities, and have rolled out landing gear for a customer,” Mr Natarajan said. Making ground supply equipment is part of this strategy.

It wants to capture some offsets coming out of the Defence Ministry's big-ticket purchases of fighter aircraft and helicopters for the IAF, estimated at Rs 75,000 crore, in the coming years.

BEML wants to raise its stake in MAMC from 48 per cent to 51 per cent. The re-started company would meet the needs of companies for underground mining.

The rail coach business, accounting for a third of the total turnover of Rs 3,558 crore, grew 114 per cent in the last fiscal, with 96 coaches sold to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. However, the design change to standard gauge dented sales by Rs 19.2 crore, he admitted. So far, BEML has supplied 132 of the 192 cars ordered by DMRC.

The core defence business contributed 20 per cent and mining and construction equipment contributed half of sales. Orders worth Rs 5,206 crore are in hand.

Source: indiacar.com Source : Business Line (Online Edition) (6/21/2010)