Mumbai: Public sector power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is looking at mergers and acquisitions to fuel inorganic growth and has targeted a turnover of Rs 45,000 crore by 2012.

BHEL has drawn up a 'Strategic Plan 2012' to ensure sustainable profitable growth over the next five years, reaching a turnover of Rs 45,000 crore, BHEL chairman and managing director AK Puri told a shareholders meeting.

He said the company will pursue the merger and acquisition route to avail inorganic growth opportunities and enlarge operations both in domestic as well as export markets.

He said BHEL's growth planks for the next five years will be driven by capacity and capability enhancement that will leverage the company's core areas of power supported by industry, transmission, exports and spares and services businesses.

BHEL's turnover hit an all-time high of Rs 18,739 crore, registering a growth of 29 per cent, while net profit increased by 44 per cent to touch Rs 2,415 crore in 2006-07.

The company declared a final dividend of 60 per cent on the enhanced paid-up share capital consequent to 1:1 bonus issue.

BHEL paid the highest ever dividend of nearly Rs 600 crore for 2006-07, which is 245 per cent of the paid-up capital pre-bonus, he said.

Puri said with an order book position of Rs 55,000 crore, BHEL expects to achieve robust growth in 2007-08 and beyond. The company is well on its way to increasing its size of operations supported by phased manufacturing capacity expansion where a capacity of 10,000 MW per annum will be completed by December 2007 and 15,000 MW per annum by December 2009, he added.

The company booked export orders worth Rs 1,903 crore in 2006-07 against an average yearly order book of Rs 1,275 crore of the last five years, Puri said.