Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has had some impact of Covid-19 pandemic on its financial parameters in respect of revenues as well as profitability. The company reasoned to exchanges Wednesday that the disruption of international supply chains in the first quarter of the calendar year, coupled with the nation-wide lockdown towards the end of Q4FY20 impacted its business.
“Business outlook in the immediate term remains challenging due to the continued slowness in ordering witnessed in the power sector. The pace of order is yet to pick up post-Covid-19. Leading indicators like demand for electricity reflecting gradual resumption of economic activity nearer to the pre-lockdown period bears promise for the longer outlook. The ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of the Government of India as a strategy to mitigate the ill impacts of Covid-19 is also expected to provide potential for manufacturing operations growth,” company said.
The company’s offices, manufacturing units and project sites remained closed for varying periods, except for permitted essential services in compliance with various Ministry of Home Affairs orders issued from time to time in respect of lockdown.
Utilizing its IT infrastructure, the company instituted “Work From Home” for many sections of employees across offices and units during the lockdown period. This helped in some continuance of activities in functions such as engineering, HR, Finance, etc., despite the fact that employees did not have physical access to their offices.
After lockdowns were lifted in different parts of the country, BHEL’s manufacturing units have resumed limited operations in a staggered manner, strictly conforming to the guidelines issued by local administrations.
However, the worldwide disruptive impact of the Covid pandemic on supply chains on BHEL operations continues to be seen, both in respect of imported as well as indigenous supplies, from the last quarter of the previous financial year itself.
Though all power project sites were also opened when permitted by the respective local administrations, poor availability of labour continues to have an impact on full resumption of project execution activities.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd ended at Rs36.05 up by Rs0.35 or 0.98% from its previous closing of Rs35.70 on the BSE.
