This is due to two reasons - first,Cethar Vessels has an order book of Rs.2,000 crore, which will keep the works busy for two years. Second, the year 2008-09 got Cethar the long-awaited break - an order for higher capacity boilers, something that will take him into the big league of power equipment manufacturers.

Part of the Rs.2,000-crore order book is one order, worth Rs 809 crore, for the supply of two boilers for two units, from a Delhi-based company called Aryan Coal. The boilers are also to be of the 'circulating fluidised bed combustion' (CFBC) type, a technology that is fast gaining currency in India.

"Once we have these (135 MW) boilers in place,nobody will question our ability to produce boilers up to 500 MW capacity," says Mr.Subburaj.

He says that there are plentiful opportunities for order booking beyond the Rs.2,000 crore on hand, which include boilers for 350 Mw plants. "It is very probable that we will have booked further orders worth Rs 3,000 crore by June," says Mr.Subburaj.

Since work on these prospects took off briskly in 2008-09, Mr Subburaj is not among those wishing to quickly forget the year.

NOT UNAFFECTED

It is not as though Cethar Vessels was unaffected by the slowdown,as shown by the decline in turnover. Some of its customers found it difficult to persuade banks to open letters of credit (instruments through which the bank promises to pay for the purchase in case the customer fails to).

Cethar Vessels, which was in active talks with the Chinese power equipment major, Harbin, for a joint venture for making turbines in India, has put the plans on hold. The company also could not conclude a deal to raise PE funding for expansion.

Nonetheless, Mr.Subburaj feels the company is on a strong wicket. Cethar has capacity to produce boilers for 8,000 MW. Mr.Subburaj admits that the capacity is far in excess of even prospective business - he expects the company will do 5,000 MW of boilers after five years.

Yet, he says, building capacity in excess of the need is a carefully thought-out gambit. The excess capacity will leave room for the company to get into the high-margin boiler components (spares) business, something that will take care of fixed costs and enable the company to quote for boilers on marginal cost basis.

>>More on the web: www.businessline.in/