Power equipment maker BHEL is bullish on defence manufacturing sector, , which is being opened up and is looking for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for partnership.

The public sector unit is particularly interested in naval, field guns and sub-marines.  The company has made significant contributions for naval guns and Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS), BHEL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) B Prasada Rao said at the company's 51st AGM recently.

The 'Make in India' initiative in the defence sector is opening up large opportunities in naval and field guns, sub-marines, etc. BHEL is actively pursuing these opportunities by partnering with global OEMs, he added. In spite of 2014-15 being an extremely challenging financial year, BHEL secured orders worth Rs 30,814 crore, an increase of 10 percent over the previous year, in intensely competitive domestic and overseas markets, Rao said.

"2014-15 marked a turnaround in the Indian hydropower sector with an addition of 736 MW to Central utilities, the highest in a decade. Notably, entire 736 MW of hydroelectric projects were commissioned by BHEL," Rao said.

"At the end of the year, total orders in hand for execution in 2015-16 and beyond, stand at Rs 1,01,018 crore," he said.  Despite severe market shrinkage and stiff competition in the power sector, BHEL maintained its leadership position with a market share of 72 percent for the second consecutive year.

By expanding its offerings, the company secured 89 percent of its total orders in the power sector on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis.

For the third time in a row, BHEL synchronized/ commissioned power projects of more than 10,000 MW in a single year. Power projects totalling 11,941 MW were commissioned during the year, inclusive of 10,230 MW utility sets, 1,392 MW captive sets/ industrial sets in the country and 319 MW in overseas markets.