How has been the last year for the company in terms of new projects and delivery of in-hand projects?
I am happy to share that BEML has just been awarded Mumbai Metro line 2, 2A & 7, which is around Rs. 3,000 cr. order, the biggest ever order for BEML that takes our order book value to almost Rs.10,000 cr. It also has provision for an optional order on additional 126 cars worth Rs.1000 cr. Besides the Mumbai Metro, presently we are executing orders for Kolkata and Bangalore Metros. We are also expecting further orders from Bangalore Metro. In Defence, we have a big order of Rs. 1400 cr. for supply of Armoured Recovery Vehicles, Rs 500 cr. order for Sarvatra Bridge system. In addition, order worth Rs. 500 cr. is in the pipeline for supply of Armoured Repair Recovery Vehicles. There is a continuous surge in the demand for Defence spares to almost double compared to last year and we are gearing up to meet the requirements. Further orders worth Rs 200 cr. are expected shortly. As far as Mining & Construction is concerned, last year was a notable one for BEML since we supplied newly developed, higher capacity dumpers to Coal India Ltd. on trial cum sale basis apart from our regular supplies. Since the mining segment is migrating towards deployment of higher capacity equipment to meet the higher production requirements, BEML has taken initiative to design and manufacture of higher capacity mining equipment such as 190-205 ton range and 150 ton electric dump trucks, 180 class electric and diesel versions of excavators and 850 hp bulldozers with in-house R&D strength.
How do you foresee Indian market growing in the railways manufacturing segment?
At present, Indian Railways is primarily focusing on various infrastructure augmentation viz., electrification of railway routes, track doubling for capacity augmentation and enhancement of safety & amenities for passengers. Also, infrastructure maintenance has been considered as forefront requirement for providing better services to the people. The rail policy talks of strengthening the existing corridors and new corridors. There is also a market for sub-urban trains to move into IGBT 3 phase to run like a metro, instead of being pulled by a locomotive, which is another option for us. This is aided and buoyed up by the ‘Make in India' policy of the Government of India.
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