New Delhi: State-run Engineers India Ltd (EIL) wants to be a global leader offering total solutions for a sustainable future and is looking to diversify into new areas such as nuclear energy to power the next phase of its growth, said Chairperson and Managing Director (CMD) Vartika Shukla on Wednesday. Addressing the media on the occasion of EIL's 59th Foundation Day, Shukla said that orders from overseas markets make up 15 percent of its order book currently and the PSU is looking to tap more overseas markets in the Middle East, like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Algeria.
EIL was started in 1965 to reduce India's dependence on foreign companies for doing engineering works for mega oil and gas projects that a newly independent nation was undertaking at the time. Over the years, EIL has expanded beyond its core competence in the oil and gas sector to petrochemicals, fertilizer, green hydrogen and biofuels.
With a healthy order book of about Rs 9,000 crore, the company has "strategised its growth plan with five-pronged strategy of strategic collaboration, diversification in new areas, innovation and technology, expanding geographies and operational excellence," Shukla told reporters.
From bringing technology for upgrade of petrol and diesel to Euro-VI (BS-VI) emission specifications, to upgrade of oil refineries, petrochemical integration and niche chemicals, EIL has in recent times added biofuels and green hydrogen to the list of industries where it provides consultancy right from design and feasibility studies to engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance.
The EIL CMD said that the company is aiding the expansion of the Vizag oil refinery, building a new highly-petrochemical intensive oil refinery at Barmer in Rajasthan, and one of the biggest petrochemical integration projects of HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd at Bhatinda in Punjab.
"Likewise, EIL has significantly expanded its business in new geographies, which include Dangote oil refinery project in Nigeria, having total capital outlay of almost USD 20 billion with the highest single train refining capacity in the world. The company is also providing project management consultancy (PMC) services for a 1.5 million tonnes Mongol refinery project in Mongolia," she said.
Recently, EIL expanded its business in Guyana securing a 300 MW power plant project, she said adding EIL has strengthened its office in Abu Dhabi to cater to projects in the entire region.
EIL has also worked on data centre for State Bank of India, IIM Nagpur campus, and restoration of heritage sites like Khajuraho and Sun temple of Konark in Odisha.
EIL has also marked its footprint in the biofuels projects implementation. It is providing its services in the implementation of one of the largest capacities biorefinery project in India for Assam Biorefinery Pvt Ltd and is playing a crucial role in providing technological solutions for decarbonizing the aviation sector in collaboration with CSIR-IIP, Dehradun.
"We are looking at diversification... nuclear energy is one such area we are actively exploring," said the CMD.
Stating that EIL has broadened its horizon in the hydrocarbon and fertilizer business beyond its consultancy and engineering services portfolio, she said the stake company took in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and one of the largest capacity urea producing Ramagundam Fertilizer Corporation Limited in Telangana are reflective of that.
"Going ahead, EIL's strategy for growth while catering to the oil and gas sector, will be to provide its services in the sunshine areas of energy-efficient infrastructure, mining and metallurgy and other diversified areas of operation to remain at the leadership position in providing engineering solutions and implementation of mega projects in the future," she said.
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