Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd(BHEL.NS), India's top power equipment maker, missed analyst estimates with a 17.5 percent fall in third-quarter net profit, hit by a slowdown in new orders, sending its shares down more than 4 percent.

India's power sector has been badly hit by shortages of coal and gas supplies, delays in environmental approvals for power and mining projects and drying up of funding -- severely denting the demand for equipment.

Net profit at the state-run company fell to 11.82 billion rupees in the quarter ended December 31 from 14.33 billion rupees in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts, on average, had expected a net profit of 13.84 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

BHEL's order book stood at 1.14 trillion rupees, down from about 1.22 trillion rupees at the end of September.

At 12.33 p.m., shares of BHEL were down 3.7 percent, while the broader market was down marginally.

($1 = 53.1900 Indian rupees)