- BHEL CMD given Distinguished Alumnus Award by IIT Madras

By our staff reporter
Haridwar, 30 Apr: For commendable contribution and achievements over several decades in the industry, K Ravi Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director of Navaratna Engineering and Manufacturing Enterprise, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), has been conferred the prestigious ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.
The award was presented to Ravi Kumar for demonstrating consistent growth, expertise in managerial growth and organisational excellence in Industry, by KV Rangaswami, wholetime Director & Senior Executive Vice President L&T, in the presence of Prof MS Ananth, Director, IIT Madras on their 50th Institute Day.
Distinguished Alumnus Awards are given to people of eminence for their outstanding contribution in the field of Academic Excellence, Technology Innovation Excellence, Managerial Excellence, Entrepreneurial Excellence and excellence in other walks of life. The committee appointed by the Director unanimously selected K Ravi Kumar for the Award for Managerial Excellence for 2009.
After completing his MTech from IIT Madras and Post Graduation in Business Administration and a brief stint in the private sector, Ravi Kumar joined BHEL in 1975 in the Energy Systems and New Products (R&D) Division and rose to the position of CMD. He has made significant contributions in various key functions like Engineering of Control Equipment Products in the Electronics Division, Bangalore, Construction and Project Management of Thermal, Hydro, Nuclear and Industrial sets in Power Sector Southern Region, Chennai and Marketing of BHEL’s Power Sector business segment.
Ravi Kumar took over at a crucial juncture when BHEL was in the process of building Capacity and Capability to contribute fully for meeting the power forecast for the 11th Plan and beyond. Under his leadership, the company has already enhanced its manufacturing capacity to 10,000 MW per annum and is further augmenting it to 15,000 MW per annum which is proceeding apace.
Significantly, Ravi Kumar was instrumental in achieving many firsts for BHEL namely the first 1,000 MW coal based turnkey project of NTPC at Simhadri in Andhra Pradesh completed in a record 39 months, the first 350 MW gas-based turnkey project of NTPC at Kayamkulam in Kerala involving dredging and dynamic compaction of 14 lakh cubic metres of sand, again in record time, and synchronisation of the 210 MW Raichur Unit 7 of KPCL in a record 25 months, besides introduction of a host of innovative erection techniques.
Under his leadership, BHEL has added in its portfolio new technologies like Supercritical Thermal Sets and gas-based power plants using Advanced-class Gas Turbines and various measures have been taken through organic and inorganic routes to achieve its targeted growth as envisaged in its well crafted Strategic Plan.