KEC International bags Rs 602-crore order: Chandak

Ramesh Chandak, MD, KEC International, says that the company's order book in the last 3-4 months has been in the range of Rs 9,000 crore. Our execution has been quite good in current period and in the first quarter. The order book is stable at above Rs 9,000 crore and has a good mix of various regions like the Middle East, North Africa, Africa, CIS, America, SAARC and India.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: How does your order book looks like? Your company has bagged an order worth Rs 602 crore in transmission, railways and cables business. What was the order book last quarter and now or what is year on year comparison?

A: Order book in the last 3-4 months has been in the range of Rs 9,000 crore. Our execution has been quite good in current period and in the first quarter. The order book is stable at above Rs 9,000 crore. The order book has a good mix of various regions like the Middle East, North Africa, Africa, CIS, America, SAARC and India. Orders are coming from areas like transmission, railway, cable and water.

Railway has the largest contribution of Rs 162 crore to the order book, as railway and water are relatively new divisions. With order from Turkmenistan for railways, our railway order book has almost crossed Rs 600 crore. Transmission is our regular business and we have received orders from Power Grid, the Philippines and America.

Q: What are the railway order margins?

A: Margins are around 8-9 percent.

Q: Have you had to compensate in any way on pricing? Transmission margins are much better than the non-transmission; do you see that holding up?

A: Initially, when we entered railway and water segment we did bid aggressively to have a proper entry in the market. But now whatever orders we are bidding henceforth they have been at a normal EPC margin. The impact is only coming with the old orders that we are executing, so some margins are less on the railway and water side.

Q: Do you expect this order inflow momentum to continue? Most of the other players seem to be facing challenges particularly in the domestic front you don’t see any problems on that front?

A: Our order book in the domestic front has been fairly good, got have received order of 765 kV from Power Grid. We are receiving proper inflow of orders in transmission business both in India and internationally.