Bhel was the subject of an early rise, shrugging off the volatility it witnessed on Thursday, considering major project wins of late.

The scrip of the power equipment major edged up 0.97% to Rs 223.40 on BSE in early trades. Around 22,000 Bhel shares were traded as the market moved into the first few minutes of trading. In contrast, the BSE Sensex was trailing by 9.44 points at 3,143.58.

Bhel is increasingly becoming a favourite with funds. Despite a degree of volatility, it made substantial gains over the last few months. On Wednesday, too, volatility took hold of the counter as it gained 3.4% to Rs 226.25 earlier, but ended just 1.1% up at Rs 221.25.

Domestic mutual fund Prudential ICICI is believed to have mopped up the stock recently. Another fund Templeton also went for the stock at the Rs 180-level earlier. And even further back, Morgan Stanley was pursuing the stock, at around the Rs 160-level.

The strong order book of the company and continued order flows have proved significant in improving the scrip's fortunes of late. The proposed Electricity Bill that is slated to be tabled in Parliament soon is also providing a trigger for the stock.

Last week, Bhel bagged a mega order worth Rs 2,125 crore from NTPC for setting up the 1000 MW Stage-III of Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station in Madhya Pradesh, comprising 2 units of 500 MW. In its efforts to meet the capacity addition target for the Tenth Plan, NTPC has embarked on the negotiation route for finalising the order with Bhel. This methodology shall not only ensure capacity addition of 1000 MW in the Tenth Plan but also save time and cost in the execution of the project, Bhel then said.

Bhel is presently executing contracts at Talcher STPS in Orissa, Rihand STPS in Uttar Pradesh and Ramagundam STPS in Andhra Pradesh for NTPC. All the projects are progressing on schedule.

Bhel is the largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise of its kind in India and is one of the leading international companies in the field of power equipment manufacture. It manufactures over 180 products under 30 major product groups and caters to core sectors of the Indian economy including power generation and transmission, industry, transportation, telecommunication and renewable energy.

The Union Budget for 2003-04 has proved to be a mixed bag for Bhel. On the one hand, it has slashed customs duty on high voltage transmission equipment from 25% to 5%. The measure will reduce the total cost of import of such equipment and may put pressure on demand for domestic power equipment. On the other hand, the budget has been held to be favourable for the power sector in the long term due to the proposed reforms in the sector. The budget has laid much emphasis on infrastructure, which could form the core trigger for industrial development. Other announcements include the extension of the mega power project policy to all power projects. Also, the Electricity Bill is expected to be passed in Parliament soon.

Analysts say the Electricity Bill will aim at improving the health of state electricity boards. This, in turn, will help Bhel improve its financials as the power equipment major receives 60% of its revenues from SEBs.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, Bhel posted a net profit growth of 1.5% to Rs 81.33 crore, compared to Rs 80.15 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Total income increased by 14% to Rs 1,699.76 from Rs 1,490.17 crore (Rs 14.9 billion) in DQ 2001