OREANDA-NEWS. October 30, 2012. The Union Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Sh. Praful Patel visited BHEL at their Corporate Office at Siri Fort, New Delhi today.

Sh. B.P. Rao, CMD, BHEL and all functional Directors welcomed the Minister. The performance and future readiness of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) were reviewed by the Minister. Senior officials of the Department of Heavy Industry were present on the occasion.

The Minister was briefed about the performance trends of the company, diversification plans, manufacturing and R&D capability w.r.t new inititatives and strategies for growth, among others.

The Minister, while appreciating the progress made by the company in different areas has asked BHEL to gear up for the future to face competition from the domestic as well as overseas companies. In view of the slowdown in the power sector, he has directed the company to step up its activities in other areas like renewables (including solar), transportation and defence, in a big way.

Appreciating the inherent strength of BHEL, he said that the company had the resilience to get into business areas that are long gestation in nature and where profits can begin to materialize over a period of time. Assuring BHEL of complete support and backing of the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, the Minister said that BHEL would soon be conferred the ‘Maharatna’ status.

Directing BHEL to play a more proactive role in the business area of defence, he said that the company should explore the possibilities of entering into JVs with technology leaders. He has also decided to take up the issue of the defence production capabilities of BHEL with the Ministry of Defence.

Sh. Patel advised BHEL to explore possibilities of diversification in both related and unrelated areas including Mass Rapid Transport systems, to leverage the inherent engineering capabilities of the company.