Orders for Indian firms hit an all-time high

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 21:25 IST
Printer Print Email Email
Orders for Indian firms hit an all-time high
Mumbai: After a period of uncertainty, the orders received by Indian firms have more than doubled to an all-time high of about $15 billion in the second quarter of the current fiscal compared to the last quarter. The increase is 21 percent on a year-on-year basis, reports Business Standard. An analysis of order book announcements by 63 companies shows that capital goods, engineering and infrastructure have led the way, cornering 86 percent of the total orders. The remaining orders went to gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals and telecom sectors. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) topped the list with new orders worth around $2.9 billion. The order backlog is also impressive and suggests strong revenue streams for the next few years. Electrical equipment giant Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has an order backlog of over $24 billion, which could see the company through for the next four years. Engineering major L&T has a total order book of about $14 billion, which is almost 1.75 times its annual turnover. It is not only the big companies that are bagging these multi-billion dollar orders, but also the BGR Energy, which has won contracts worth $333 million each for two power projects, has an overall order position of $2.6 billion, providing a revenue stream for more than three years. The bulk of orders has come from public sector undertakings and central and state governments. Foreign companies accounted for a quarter and the private sector for the rest.

siliconindia