The corporate research and development wing of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is planning to invest over Rs. 1,300 crore in developing new products during the current financial year.
The public sector power equipment maker invested Rs. 1,248 crore during the fiscal 2012-13. The products, developed in-house, con- tributed Rs. 9,643 crore, amounting to 19.3 per cent, to BHEL’s overall turnover during the previous year. “The R&D spend during 2012-13 went up by 4 per cent, and the investment is likely to witness the same growth this fiscal also,” BHEL Corporate R&D General Manager S. Sekar said.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said the Ramachandrapuram unit of the company was likely to receive close to Rs. 300 crore of the total investment planned for developing new products for emerging markets. “The investments we make will start fetching us returns in two to three years,” he said.
He said the solar tracker developed by the company was likely to be launched commercially in six to eight months. Replying to queries, he said the company was working out modalities to develop comprehensive solutions for tapping solar energy. BHEL’s R&D division filed 825 IPR applications, out of which 345 had been granted patents and were in force.
“The R&D advisory committee comprising experts is working out plans to identify future growth avenues and has charted out roadmaps for 1,500 plus projects so far,” he said.
