By IANS
Ranchi : The state-run Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) has set a record by posting profits for the second consecutive year. It registered net profits of Rs.34.6 million during 2007-2008, the company said Saturday.
“HEC earned net profit of Rs.3.46 crore (34.6 million) during financial year 2007-2008, which is 21 percent higher than the previous year,” G.K. Pillai, chairman and managing director of HEC, told reporters here.
He said: “The company achieved gross sales of Rs.416.28 crore (Rs.4.16 billion), which is the highest since its inception. The gross sale is 37 percent higher than the previous financial year.
“In spite of all financial odds and fast depletion of manpower, (the) hard work, dedication and commitment of the employees fructifies into a net profit for the second consecutive year.”
In the 47-year history of HEC, it has posted profits only five times.
HEC currently has work orders worth Rs.6.72 billion and the company is all set to get a work order of Rs.7.78 billion from the Bhilai Steel Plant.
“HEC is putting more thrust on strategic areas like defence and space. The company manufactured and supplied six axis CNC double column vertical Turning and Boring Machine to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, which will be utilized for manufacturing aerospace components. A Horizontal Sliding Door and Mobile Launching Pad is under dispatch,” Pillai said.
The central heavy industries ministry has put a sales target of Rs.4.65 billion and a profit of Rs.60 million for the current fiscal 2008-2009. “But we have set an internal target of Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion) sales in the current financial year,” Pillai said.
HEC was a dream project of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. As it made losses, the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) had recommended its closure in 2004, but its fortunes turned later.
HEC is slated to get Rs.2.5 billion as a revival package from the Jharkhand government.
“If we get the revival package on time then it will help the company complete the projects on time,” the HEC managing director said.