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Mr V.RS. Natarajan, Chairman and Managing Director, BEML, addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Monday. Mr B.V. Ramanna, Director, HR, Mr V.S. Venkatanathan, Director, R &D, and Mr K.A. Nagaraja, Director Marketing, are also seen.

BANGALORE, Dec. 2

PUBLIC sector earth moving major BEML plans to shortly foray into infrastructure equipment area in addition to its three traditional areas of its manufacturing activity.

It also plans to reorganise its core areas into strategic business units (SBUs) to improve functioning and returns, Mr V.RS. Natarajan, who took over as Chairman and Managing Director, said, speaking at his maiden press conference here today.

The defence PSU is a prime supplier of earth moving, defence equipment and rail coaches. Infrastructure equipment would be developed as a separate business segment. It would roll out new technology products for the new target area of business to cover sectors of immense potential such as roads, ports, airports, nuclear power, and disaster management equipment. Its equipment would provide turnaround saving solutions at the ports, for example, from ships to stacking, up to trucks.

In a renewed focus on railway products, this time of the metro category, BEML has tied up with Rotem of South Korea for technology transfer to make and supply 180 stainless steel coaches for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The production on the Rs 42.5-crore order will be taken up at the Bangalore plant in April 2003 and completed over 18 months.

"We are trying to introduce the SBU concept for each of our products numbering around six," he said. Mr Natarajan, who succeeds Dr K. Aprameyan, was Director (Personnel) of ECIL prior to that.

BEML is aspiring to become a Rs 5,000-crore global major by its 50th year - 2014 - for which it is drafting a Vision 2014 plan to be unveiled next year.

This year, it expects a turnover of Rs 1,675 crore bettering its 2001-02 sales performance of Rs 1,424 crore - some 47 per cent of it coming from defence.

The PSU has nearly 40 per cent of its equity divested among FIs and public and is listed on the Mumbai and Bangalore stock exchanges.

The workforce would be trimmed by 2000 from the present strength of 15,165 over the next 2-3 years, Mr Natarajan said. The company has already offered VRS to 1,500 employees.

The recent wage revision has meant an expenditure of Rs 172 crore which has affected the margins. The annual recurring expenditure on new wages is around Rs 72 crore.

To develop the disaster control equipment, BEML has tied up with TIFAC under the Ministry of Science & Technology. These will include radio control dozer and hydraulic excavators with demolition attachments. New agreements have been signed with Komatsu America and Bucyrus International for manufacturing giant 170T rear dumpers and 20 cu.m rope shovels for the first time in the country.

With all these activities, a growth rate of 8 per cent is expected during the Tenth Plan period ending 2006-07.

Of the Rs 2,000-crore order it has for the current year, about Rs 1,600-crore is for defence equipment, but that will be spread over the next couple of years and the company is trying to even out the volumes through the year. The mining sector and Coal India Ltd are among its prime customers.

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