BHEL surges 6% on buzz of winning Rs 19,422 cr order from NLC India

Shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) hit a multi-year high of Rs 204.65, as they rallied 6 per cent on the BSE in Monday's intra-day trade on reports that the state-owned company won Rs 19,422 crore turnkey contract from the another public sector company NLC India.

The stock was trading at its highest level since October 2015. At 09:36 AM; BHEL was quoting 5 per cent higher at Rs 203.45, as compared to 0.15 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The counter saw huge trading volumes with a combined 32.6 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.

According to the Hindu Business Line report, BHEL has emerged the best bidder for Rs 19,422-crore turnkey contract for building a thermal power plant for NLC India at Talabira, Odisha, quoting a better price than L&T-MHI. The financial bids were opened on Friday.

BHEL will build three ultra supercritical units of 800 MW each for NLC India at Talabira. Incidentally, NLC has added a fourth unit of 800 MW to the project. The EPC tender was for the first three projects; it is not clear whether or not there would be a separate tender for the fourth unit. (An ultra-supercritical thermal plant is one in which the temperature and pressure of the steam generated are very high, roughly 600 degrees C and 240 bar. Such plants are more efficient - they produce more power per unit of fuel), the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, in the past six months, the stock price of BHEL has more than doubled or zoomed 133 per cent on improved business outlook. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 10.6 per cent during the period.

As on September 30, 2023, BHEL's order book position stood at Rs 1.14 trillion. Of which, 72 per cent or Rs 82,673 crore orders were from power sector, while 24 per cent (Rs 27,810 crore) from industry and the remaining 4 per cent (Rs 3,942 crore) from exports, the company said.

BHEL received orders worth Rs 33,479 crore in first half (April to September) of financial year 2023-24, as compared to Rs 12,310 crore orders bagged during the same period last fiscal. Fructification of diversification initiatives and revival of thermal power ordering led to robust order booking, the company said.

During Q1FY24, BHEL won a milestone order of manufacturing 80 Vande Bharat trains in a Joint Venture with 'Titagarh Wagons Limited' where BHEL has a significant share.

Meanwhile, on November 29, 2023, BHEL signed a contract with Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 16 nos. super rapid gun mounts (SRGMs) against the Letter of Intent (LOI) received earlier in March 2023.

Defence ministry has signed a Rs 2,956 crore contract with BHEL to procure 16 upgraded SRGM and accessories for the Indian Navy. The SRGM is a medium caliber anti-missile and anti-aircraft defence weapon system that provides a sustained rate of fire and high accuracy. These upgraded SRGMs will be installed onboard Indian Navy's in-service and newly built ships.