Addressing shareholders at the company's annual general meeting here on Friday, director Aditya Khaitan said that with the economic scenario looking up, a lot of Government orders were expected to get realised in the current year.

``The company's operations have been good except for a high interest burden for the company. This is a matter of concern and we have been talking to banks and financial institutions to help us tide over this situation,'' said Khaitan.

The company, which is a primary manufacturer of vertical turbine pumps and submersible pumps, recorded a lower turnover of Rs 41.91 crore in 1998-99 compared to Rs 55.30 crore in 1997-98.

During the year under review, production and sale were low compared to earlier years, due to inadequate orderbooking. However, there has been a marginal increase in production and sale of horizontal pumps. Spares sales went down marginally compared to previous years.

According to Khaitan, the low turnover was basically due to a severe recession in the capital goods market. The effect on profitability could have been more severe but for the efforts of the management to cut down cost and bring down expenses drastically.