BEML, NTPC go for Joint Business

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) Defence Public Sector Undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has entered into a partnership with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) -- India's largest power producer -- to explore the possibilities of joint business development for the manufacture and marketing of mining construction equipment and spares.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed here by BEML Chairman-cum-Managing Director VRS Natarajan and NTPC CMD T Sankaralingam. The MoU provides for suply and utilisation of BEML range of equipment, spares and services for NTPC's coal mining projects.

It also provides for a long-term mutually beneficial business association between the two PSU giants not only to maximise and optimise coal production of NTPC's coal blocks but also to enable BEML deploy its equipment required for mining to minimise the cost of coal production, an official spokesperson said today.

BEML is Asia's second-largest manufacturer of earth moving equipment and controls 70 per cent of India's market in that sector.

The MoU partnership will ensure planned and uninterrupted production and supply of captive coal to NTPC's power plants from its captive coal blocks and thus help generate power to achieve the national objective of 'Power for All' by 2012, the spokesperson observed.

NTPC is India's largest power generation company with an installed capacity of 26,404 MW -- with 14 coal-based, seven gas-based and three Joint Venture power stations. Presently generating barely 20 per cent of its installed capacity, NTPC contributes around 28 per cent of the country's power generation.

NTPC is poised to become a 75,000 MW-company by 2017.

UNI