New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) to collectively encourage and work towards improvement of exports of power plant equipment.

The MoU was signed by BHEL Chairman and Managing Director, Ashok K Puri, and his MMC counterpart, Sanjiv Batra.

A BHEL spokesman said that in terms of the MoU, the two companies will tap chances of counter trading and bulk purchasing by MMTC in order to encourage the export of BHEL equipment out of the country.

The MoU will also deal with the issue of energy security for the country by connecting import of fuels, such as coal, with the export of power projects.

The MMTC and BHEL have already been cooperating in a variety of fields.

Recently, BHEL has licensed a 24 MW gas turbine for MMTC-promoted Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL) in Orissa. It is the initial project of this scale in Asia where flue gas is being utilized for fabrication of power as an ecological measure.

BHEL is one of the biggest exporters of engineering products and services from India. Over the years, it has established its footprints in 70 countries.