Praful for home made equipment in power plants

In a bid to save domestic power equipment manufacturers from cut-throat Chinese competition, Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel wants mandatory usage of Indian equipment for new Ultra Mega Power Projects. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

In a bid to save domestic power equipment manufacturers from cut-throat Chinese competition, Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel wants mandatory usage of Indian equipment for new Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs).

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In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Patel has urged him to push for optimal utilisation of domestic manufacturing capacity of companies like BHEL.

Despite border differences, India and China have strengthened their trade ties, including in the power sector. The bilateral trade, now $80 billion, is likely to go up to $100 billion by 2015.

While the Chinese companies have a price advantage, Patel thinks it can be made mandatory for UMPP projects to use domestic power equipment, as “developers will receive substantial support from the government by way of scarce national resources like coal and water”.

The letter also points out that the domestic companies have already set up facilities for manufacturing coal-based power equipment in excess of 20,000 MW annually.