In the 11th Plan period, the public sector power equipment major, BHEL, recruited 7,266 people more than the number of employees who retired. However, in the 12th Plan period, manpower addition, net of retirement, is likely to be close to zero.

 

The company told analysts recently that it would recruit 2,200 people a year during the 2012-17 period, but that would be only as many as the number of people who retire.

 

“Given the current cost pressures and competition in the industry, BHEL intends to only replace retiring employees,” says a report of Edelweiss.

 

BHEL’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr B P Rao, told analysts recently that the total number of employees would “more or less remain constant, because we have already done major recruitment in the past.”  

The company has about 48,000 employees.

 

BHEL also makes equipment for power transmission, as well as products for transportation (such as locomotives), but its mainstay is boilers and turbine-generators for power projects.

 

In 2011-12, the company booked orders worth Rs 22,096 crore, (of which Rs 14,012 crore came from the power sector), compared with Rs 60,476 crore (Rs 46, 393 crore from the power sector) in 2010-11.  Last year, the power sector orders were for 2,820 MW against 15,071 MW in 2010-11.