BHEL is pulling out all stops to recover arbitral awards worth ₹1,500 crore

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : State-run industrial equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is pulling out all stops to secure arbitral awards worth nearly ₹1,500 crore, which is about 15x the company's September quarter net profit. BHEL is accelerating its efforts to ensure that these awards, which were in favour of the company, are collected as soon as possible, according to two people close to the matter.

The payment of most arbitral awards, accumulated between 2018 and 2022, has been delayed due to appeals and legal challenges. Some awards were delayed due to the winding up of parties who were mandated to pay, and a few were stuck in the enforcement procedure in courts. In 2018, BHEL won an arbitral award worth more than ₹830 crore, but the payer went under liquidation, according to the parliamentary committee report cited above.

BHEL was declared as a secured creditor of the payer, but legal tiffs between BHEL and the liquidators led to the issue being challenged till the apex court, where the matter is stuck currently. Another case from 2019, worth over ₹223 crore is still pending before the Karnataka High Court as the arbitral award was challenged by the payer. "There is constant oversight on this issue, and all developments related to these matters are being monitored.

All possible methods are being used to recover these dues," said one official on the condition of anonymity. The recovery is important as BHEL, which marked a turnaround in recent quarters on the back of demand for boilers and railway equipment, plays a key role in the country's strategic sectors, such as aerospace and defence. BHEL received orders worth nearly ₹78,000 crore in 2023-24, the most in a fiscal year.