State-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd, India's largest power generation firm, announced on Friday that a joint venture company has been constituted on 20 May as International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd, in association with the Steel Authority of India, Coal India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and NMDC Ltd. The five entities shall contribute in the equity share capital of the company in the ratio of 2:2:1:1:1 respectively.

The joint venture has been incorporated for the purpose of carrying on overseas acquisitions and operation of coal mines or blocks and for securing coking and thermal coal supplies.

Meanwhile, NTPC Ltd announced that it has posted a 57.7 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended March 2009 on the back of increased power generation through fresh capacity addition, and a tax refund.

Net income climbed to Rs2,110 crore in the three months ended 31 March from Rs1,340 crore a year earlier, the utility said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. That compares with a provisional Rs1,740 crore announced by chairman R S Sharma last month.

''Around 2,000 mw of our power generation capacity went commercial in 2007-2008. Its generation benefits have come now,'' said a senior official of the company.

The power utility recorded a net profit of Rs 2,113.35 crore in the quarter compared with Rs 1,339.50 crore posted in the corresponding quarter last year.

Total income of the company has also increased 8.6 per cent at Rs 12,481.51 crore in the three months ended March 2009, compared with Rs 11,487.50 crore posted in the year ago quarter.

For the financial year ended March 2009, the company has posted a 8.3 per cent increase in net profit at Rs8,092.46 crore compared with Rs7,469.90 crore posted in the previous year (2007-2008).

The company also announced a final dividend of 8 per cent in addition to the interim dividend of 28 per cent of its paid-up equity share capital of Rs 8,245 crore announced earlier this year.

NTPC has a total power generation capacity of 29,144 mw - about 20.3 per cent of the country's total installed capacity. The power generator is planning to increase its installed capacity to 50,000 mw by the end of the current Plan period (2007-2012).

The company also received Rs151 crore as tax refund during the quarter compared with tax of Rs812 crore it paid a year earlier, while interest payments fell to Rs567 crore from Rs810 crore.