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KEC Int'l sees over Rs 5K cr order book by March '09-end
Ramesh Chandak, Managing Director, KEC International and RPG Transmission said the current order book of about Rs 4,800 crore has to be executed in 18 months. He sees the company's order book over Rs 5,000 crore by March-end.
KEC International and RPG Transmission have bagged an Rs 88 crore order from Barik Tojik, the national electricity company of Tajikistan. The order is for turnkey project to supply and construct 220 kv transmission lines.
The turnkey projects are for the Tajikistan portion of the Tajikistan-Afghanistan inter-connection project, which will be funded by the Asian Development Bank and OPEC Fund for International Development.
Ramesh Chandak, Managing Director, KEC International and RPG Transmission said the current order book of about Rs 4,800 crore has to be executed in 18 months. He sees the company's order book over Rs 5,000 crore by March-end.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Ramesh Chandak on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: You have just bagged an order from a Tajikistan body, what does that take your order book to and how many months ahead can you see your company full with orders?
A: Currently, this order is from a new country. So far we are concerned because we have never worked in Tajikistan. Thus, for us it is very good because we are adding one more country and it is important in today's time when the overall economy is a little tight. This is an interconnection between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. We are currently executing the project which is on the Afghanistan side of the same line. So now we will have a complete line. Secondly, with an order book of about Rs 4,800 crore, if we take last year's turnover, then we are booked for almost for 18 months and all our orders are also to be executed in about 18 months period.
Q: What is the money flows from these companies--I believe you are into Mali and Ghana as well. Does the cash flow come regularly?
A: Actually, Mali is being funded by the Government of India and the money is from India. Exim Bank is providing the money. So that is not a problem at all. All our other projects are also basically funded projects either by the World Bank or some other funding agency. Thus, we are not experiencing any payment problem on any of our customer currently.
Q: Has there been any slowdown in order flows itself? How do you see your order book growing in the next six months?
A: I definitely think that there will be some growth. I don't know how much but we expect that by the end of March our order book should be more than Rs 5,000 crore. Looking particularly at India, it looks that we had some delayed process in India and not many orders came in the earlier part of this year but most of the orders which were anticipated in the year are likely to get released in next 3-4 months. Thus, we are seeing a good growth in the domestic order book also.
Q: Does that mean that you are going to be focusing more on domestic order book because you have about 60% of your revenues coming in from overseas? Is that percentage likely to change?
A: No, our focus is on both the lines equally. In fact, within companies both are separate divisions, both have separate structure, so both are focusing on their respective markets. India's market is important for us and we always focus on it. However, the total order book is less because the total market in India is that much. So, once the market goes up definitely our order book in India will also grow.
Q: At what rate are you expecting the domestic order book to grow?
A: Basically, whatever orders were in the backlog last year most of them will get cleared in the next 3-4 months time and whatever target of power is for the year are likely to complete the target this year.
