China Firms Power Rising Indian Empire

B10 Monday, November 4, 2013 ANALYSIS ENERGY CHINA FIRMS POWER RISING INDIAN EMPIRE Showpiece Mundra port and power projects stand as monuments to tycoon’s drive and Chinese building and engineering expertise ............................................... tory of Indian busi- Debasish Roy Chowdhury ness. in Mundra, India Starting out as a [email protected] small-time com- modities trader at 17, As the four-seater private jet Adani has carved out an empire turns the final arc before touch- all by himself in a country domi- ing down at India’s largest pri- nated by towering business dy- vate port on the tip of the western nasties. The soft-spoken, modest bulge on the Arabian Sea, rows of first-generation tycoon now giant cranes loom into view, glis- runs a conglomerate with tening in the mid-morning sun. US$8.7 billion in annual reve- Mundra port’s container nues and 10,400 employees. cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua India and China have come a Port Machinery Co (ZPMC) offer long way from the decades of the first glimpse of the Chinese minimal contact following the participation in India’s most am- 1962 war. From just US$2 billion bitious privately funded infra- in 2002, bilateral annual trade structure project comprising the now stands at US$68 billion, with port and a special economic both sides aiming to take it to zone. US$100 billion by 2015. China Apart from the port, the other has emerged as India’s largest mainstay of Mumbai-listed trading partner while India is Adani Ports & SEZ (APSEZ) is the China’s biggest project exports world’s single largest cluster of market. private thermal power plants This has largely been possible generating 4,620 megawatts because of the incremental poli- (MW) through nine units, entire- cy changes initiated by the politi- cal leadership in both countries. But business leaders like Adani also play a vital role in this trade- driven rapprochement with their ability to influence policy- My experience makers in the face of opposition with the Chinese from sections within the Indian The gleaming Mundra port serves as a showcase for Chinese know-how. The port and special economic zone feature cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co and establishment that remain deep- power equipment from Shandong Electric. Other suppliers include Harbin Electric, Dongfang Electric and Beijing Beizhong. Photos: SCMP Pictures, Debasish Roy Chowdhury has increased ly suspicious about China. my admiration Chinese port operators, in- cluding Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison for them Port Holdings, are already barred from bidding for Indian port GAUTAM ADANI, ADANI GROUP projects as ports are considered strategic assets. And in Septem- ly powered by Chinese equip- ber, ZPMC was denied security ment and engineering. clearance to supply cranes to For Gautam Adani, the 51- Mumbai port. year-old self-made tycoon and In the power industry, Chi- chairman of his eponymous nese players face a different kind Adani Group that owns APSEZ, of resistance. Local companies all that matter are decent quality, fear market domination by these reasonable price and prompt de- state-owned entities, with their livery, all of which he finds easy access to cheap credit and aplenty in Chinese companies. state-fuelled cost-competitive- “ZPMC offered a price differ- ness. At an operational level, ential of 50 per cent, so we gave it there have been questions about watt-hours per capita, com- EPC (engineering, procurement to enter the power business, In- quickly established offices in Bei- “My experience with the Chinese a shot. And then we got hooked, their after-sales service and pared with 3,500 in China and and construction) orders with dian firms only had capacity to jing and Shanghai to enable clos- has only increased my admira- they were so good. In the past 10 availability of spares in the event 14,000 in the United States, ac- Shandong Electric Power Con- roll out 6,000MW of power plants er co-ordination. The results tion for them. The dedication years, these cranes have gone of breakdowns as these compa- cording to data from the World struction Corp III (Sepco III) for a year, against 100,000MW of speak for themselves. We com- and work culture and the speed from being untouchables to a nies don’t manufacture in India. Bank. its US$6 billion power project in Chinese suppliers, says Adani. missioned our first turbine in a with which they can turn around worldwide share of 75 per cent. But the overwhelming power Adani was among the first Mundra. The boilers came from “This was why we ap- record 36 months.” things is a big differentiator,” he That tells you something about deficit in a country where 400 companies to take advantage of Harbin Electric and Babcock proached Chinese companies. Sepco III came to Mundra gushes. Chinese companies,” says the million people have no access to the competitively priced Chi- Wilcox while the turbines and We had also heard a lot about with a 300-strong team of Chi- The company has raised al- portly Adani (pictured), whose electricity prompted the author- nese power equipment and the generators were sourced from their quick turnaround time. nese engineers, workers, inter- most US$1 billion from Chinese penchant for risk and audacious ities to brush aside these con- excess capacity at the disposal of Dongfang Electric and Beijing After we started talks with Chi- preters and even a cook to set up banks in the past. But to develop leveraging has made his rise one cerns and let the Chinese in. Chinese players when India Beizhong. nese power generator suppliers the plants. With all the nine a Mundra-like project at the Ab- of the most dramatic in the his- Indians consume only 900 kilo- opened up the market. It placed In 2008, when Adani decided and realised their potential, we plants commissioned, almost bott Point coal mine it has the entire contingent has gone bought in Queensland, Australia, back to China – except the two it is looking at Chinese banks to interpreters who fell in love with raise US$7 billion to US$9 billion. two engineers from Adani, mar- It is also in talks with Chinese Equipment makers’ dream run starts to stall ried and moved out with their companies to buy underground husbands who were transferred mining equipment and rolling to new power projects elsewhere stock, and expand the Abbott Chinese power equipment man- at 45 per cent of the total from 15 “India is the major export in India. Point port. Adani is even open to ufacturers may be running out of per cent in 2005-06. market for Chinese power gener- The Mundra port-SEZ com- equity participation by Chinese steam in India after a dream run Of the new projects ear- ation equipment manufacturers plex is run on a unique inte- companies for this project. as they come to terms with a marked for India’s 11th Five-Year and grew rapidly prior to 2011,” grated infrastructure model, Adani detests the fear-mon- punishing import duty, currency Plan to 2012, 49 per cent of power says Vik Chopra, a vice-president combining resources, logistics gering prevalent in a section of depreciation and murmurs of generation equipment orders at Sun Hung Kai Financial. and energy. While thermal India’s government and industry complaints over quality. went to Bhel and 30 per cent to About 45 per cent of Dong- power plants elsewhere in the when it comes to the Chinese. Power equipment from Chinese manufacturers. For the fang Electric’s order book is from country are bleeding because of “On his recent Beijing trip, Prime Dongfang Electric, Shanghai 12th and 13th plans (2012-17 and India, estimates Chopra, while sloppy supply and poor quality Minister Manmohan Singh Electric, Babcock Wilcox, Beijing 2017-22), Chinese companies that of other generator produc- of coal delivered by state mono- clearly said we would welcome Beizhong and Harbin Electric have bagged 34 per cent of the ers ranges from 20 to 40 per cent. poly Coal India, Adani has left Chinese foreign direct invest- began to flood the Indian market orders placed so far and Bhel, 41 “But growth has slowed nothing to chance. Mundra port ment. But on the other hand, we from 2006 as local private power per cent, with the rest going to markedly, given higher coal pric- imports from Indonesia, South have these security concerns producers such as Adani, Lanco, joint ventures between Indian es combined with a lack of avail- Africa and Australia the coal it that prevent the Chinese from Reliance, Vedanta and JSW and foreign generators. ability of coal in India as well One of the power plants at the giant Mundra port development, needs for the plants. It is then greater participation. We have to switched to Chinese vendors. As Bhel’s order book began to as duties slapped by the Indian where Chinese firms have been key suppliers. Photo: SCMP Pictures transferred to the power plants change our mindset.” The Chinese companies of- shrink and the public-sector unit government on Chinese manu- and beyond through a 64-kilo- The Chinese, too, he says, fered lower rates, easy finance posted a loss for the first time in facturers. Capacity additions in metre railway line the company should make an effort to estab- and rapid implementation, more than a decade, New Delhi India have also slowed down, are now forced to shell out more public but was accessed by the has laid itself, the longest private lish manufacturing bases in In- making local market leader Bha- decided to step in by increasing further pressuring Chinese im- to pay back and are afraid of tak- South China Morning Post.

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