Neyveli Lignite to invest Rs40,000 crore by 2017

22 June 2009

India's biggest lignite miner, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. (NLC) has unveiled extensive plans for investing up to Rs40,000 crore ($8.3 billion) during the eleventh (2007-2012) and twelfth (2012-2017) five year plans to expand its mining and power generation capacities to supplement to the growing demand for power in the country.

On materialisation of its ambitious new ventures and expansion programmes spread over various parts of the country with foray into new technological areas, the company aims to triple its mining capacity to 79.7 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the current level of 24 MTPA, and increase the power generation capacity six-fold to 14,740 MW from the present 2,490 MW.

The company plans to fund the new projects through internal accruals and borrowings.

NLC announced its results for 2008-09 which showed an increase of 12.5 per cent in turnover at 3354.91 crore against the 2981.65 crore last year. However, the net profit dropped to Rs821.09 crore or 25.5 per cent compared to 1101.57 crore for 2007-08. The company's board has recommended a dividend of Rs2 per share for 2008-09.

On the company's performance, NLC chairman and managing director A R Ansari told in Chennai on Saturday: "We closed the year on a positive note considering the problems we faced. The unprecedented rains in Tamil Nadu affected lignite production causing a generation loss of Rs 293 crore. We also faced many strikes by contract workmen. Still, we achieved the highest ever power generation in the fourth quarter and our growth momentum has now picked up".

NLC is a ''Mini Ratna'' public sector company engaged in lignite mining and power generation. Lignite, popularly known as ''brown coal'' is the lowest rank of coal which is used primarily as fuel for power generation. The company operates three state-of-the-art lignite mines with a capacity of around 24 MTPA and three thermal power plants of 2,490 MW in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu.