With orders for power equipment drying up in the wake of the current economic slowdown, state-run capital goods company Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has suspended its plan for fresh recruitments.

“We have suspended recruitments because of the market situation,” BHEL Chairman B Prasada Rao told Business Line . The company recruited about 20,000 people in the last four-five years across all categories, including specialists and entry-level employees. As on March 31, 2013, the company had over 48,000 employees.

Asked about the plan for manpower recruitment during the current and next fiscals, Rao said it will be bare ‘minimum’ and that, too, only to fill in the vacancies.

The company’s profit slumped over 60 per cent in the three months ended September 30. In fact, it did not get even a single order during the first six months of the current fiscal. The first order for 2013-14 came in October. The company’s dues from project developers have reduced, but Rao said he will share the actual numbers only after the third quarter financial results are out next week.

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