CIL-BEML spar over gear quality

Coal India has ‘quality issues' with BEML's equipment, mainly 100-tonne dumpers, according to the coal mining company's Chairman and Managing Director, Mr N.C. Jha. Talking to Business Line, Mr Jha, who was here to participate in a seminar on ‘core sector' organised by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, termed the quality issues “serious”. The equipment, he said, “often fail even during the warranty period”.

Both CIL and BEML are listed public sector undertakings. Last year, BEML sold equipment worth Rs 1,200 crore to CIL.

CIL, which has a production target of 452 million tonnes for this year, expects to incur a capital expenditure of Rs 4,200 crore. About 80 per cent of this for buying mining equipment.

When

Business Line spoke to sources in BEML, they refuted CIL's charges. A highly placed source told Business Line that BEML's equipment are no more fault-prone than any other manufacturer's. He also said that CIL does not always place orders on BEML for spares, whereas when the company buys Caterpillar's or Komatsu's equipment, it buys all the spares from them. Spurious spares, the source said, could be a cause for equipment failure and BEML cannot be blamed for that.

BEML, the source noted, has 60 dedicated service centres, manned by 450 engineers, at CIL's mines, providing 24 x 7 service. Over 10,000 of its machines are working at CIL's mines, he said.

“We sell in 55 countries. We entered Indonesia two years ago, and have sold Rs 200 crore worth of machines so far. Nowhere is there a quality problem.”