Saturday, June 17 2006 11:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: India's largest engineering and manufacturing firm Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is eyeing a Rs.79 billion ($1.7 billion) contract in Bangladesh for supplying power generation equipment.

The engineering major is also open to the idea of a consortium with the world's sixth largest thermal power generator, state-owned National Thermal Power Corp. (NTPC).

"BHEL is exploring contracts worth Rs.79 billion in Bangladesh for supplying power generation equipment for three gas-based and thermal plants with a combined capacity of 2,050 MW," said a BHEL official.

"Of the three gas-based power projects that BHEL is looking for in Bangladesh, two projects are of 500 MW each while the third is a 450 MW project," he told IANS.

It also has plans for setting up a 100 MW Asia Development Bank (ADB)-funded gas-turbine based plant at Sidhirganj in Bangladesh involving an investment of Rs.5 billion.

"We are also open to the idea of a consortium with NTPC. We may participate by either buying some equity in the projects or by undertaking the engineering, procurement and construction work for the projects," he said.

Bhopal-based BHEL is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise in India in the energy-related and infrastructure sector.

The company manufactures over 180 products under 30 major product groups and caters to various segments, including power generation and transmission, industry, transportation, telecommunication and renewable energy.

For the fourth quarter of the year, the company reported 62 percent growth in net profit to Rs.8.6 billion. Sales rose 28 percent to Rs.55 billion.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the engineering major bagged a Rs.1 billion order to construct a captive power plant at Essar Steel's plant in Gujarat.

It also secured an order for setting up a lift irrigation scheme in Andhra Pradesh from Gammon India this month.

BHEL has emerged as the market leader in co-generation and captive power plants, offering units from 10 MW onwards for both steam turbine-based and gas-based combined cycle power projects for total power and process steam requirements of various industries.