NTPC plans to raise around Rs4,500 crore to fund expansion

Mumbai: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the country's largest power utility, plans to raise up to Rs4,500 crore in the current financial year to fund its expansion plans.

''We would raise up to $500 million (about Rs2,450 crore) from the global market and Rs2,000 crore from the domestic market through bonds for our expansion plans in the current financial year," NTPC chairman and managing director R S Sharma said.

NTPC's installed capacity is expected to cross 30,000 MW by the end of the financial year from the current 29,000 MW.

NTPC expects its coal requirement to go up to 230 million tonnes during the 11th plan and plans to import 10 per cent of its demand every year till 2012. It is importing 8.2 million tonnes of fuel in the current financial year, he said.

"We would import 10 per cent of 230 million tonnes every year till 2012," Sharma said. The company has acquired coal blocks in Indonesia to meet the shortfall in fuel supply and would soon carry out due diligence for these two blocks, he added.

He said NTPC is also planning to invest in coal mines in Australia, South Africa and Nigeria where the company has sent its representatives for further discussions.

NTPC, he said, had to suffer losses of nearly Rs94 crore in the current financial year because of low power generation at various plants including Rihand, Vindhyachal, Farakka, Kahalgaon and Talcher due to shortage of coal.