OREANDA-NEWS. The Hon'ble Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises (HI&PE), Sh. Anant Geete visited Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)'s Corporate Office in New Delhi. Sh. B. Prasada Rao, CMD, BHEL and all functional Directors on the Board of BHEL, welcomed the Minister. The performance and future readiness of BHEL were reviewed by the Minister. Dr. Sutanu Behuria, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) and other senior officials of the DHI were present on the occasion.

The Minister was briefed about the company's performance trends, diversification plans, manufacturing and R&D capability w.r.t. new initiatives and strategies for growth in the challenging market scenario, among others. The Minister, while appreciating the progress made by the company in different areas, asked BHEL to gear up for the future to face competition from the domestic as well as overseas companies. Appreciating the inherent strength of BHEL which according to him was a matter of pride, not only for his Ministry, but for the entire nation, the Minister said 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 HI&PE, he promised to take steps to solve issues related to projects under the different Ministries like Railways, Defence and Power. The Minister said that in view of the slowdown in the power sector, the company can step up its activities in other areas like renewables (including solar), transportation, transmission and defence, in a big way. However the Minister promised to look into the issue of slow moving power projects and assured his full assistance in this regard.

The Minister suggested that BHEL can explore the possibility of entering the area of power generation, when CMD, BHEL pointed out that BHEL has already made an entry into the area by setting up Joint Ventures with some State Gencos.

The Minister said that BHEL should publicize its achievements and its good track record through various media options. While thanking the Minister for taking time to visit the Corporate Office, CMD, BHEL extended an invitation to the minister to visit any of BHEL's major manufacturing units at a time convenient to him.