i Develop Stocks Advisory

L&T outbids Bhel for AP power gear Public sector power equipment major Bhel has finally met its match in L&T. The private sector engineering company outbid Bhel for supply of main power equipment for a proposed 1,600 mw (2,800 mw) power project in Andhra Pradesh. The project being developed by Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation (APGenco) at Krishnapatnam would be the first project in the country based on 800 mw supercritical thermal generation sets. “The Krishnapatnam project would be the first contract given to a non-Bhel domestic manufacturing company. It is a very significant development that would kickstart L&T’s own power equipment manufacturing programme. The country needs to step up manufacturing to keep pace with its ambitious capacity addition programme and an additional domestic manufacturer here would definitely help,” minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh told. It is understood that L&T won the contract for supercritical turbine generator set. Sources said against a bid of about Rs 2,000 crore placed by Bhel, L&T bid just over Rs 1,500 crore. The total cost of Krishnapatnam project is about Rs 8,000 crore. The bids were opened on Tuesday.