The Hindu Business Line : NTPC revises capacity expansion target upwards for Eleventh Plan

NATIONAL Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) — the country's largest power producer — has revised upwards its capacity addition target for the Eleventh Plan period to 17,000 MW, from a target of 11,000 MW set earlier.

"We are confident of doing much better. We have, therefore, revised our capacity addition targets for the Eleventh Plan period," the NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr C.P. Jain, said here on Tuesday, while unveiling the company's quarterly results.

The company has reported a 67 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 1,365.50 crore for the third quarter ended December 2004, as against a net profit of Rs 819 crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal.

The growth in the bottom-line comes even as the company took a hit of Rs 55 crore during the quarter on account of the pruning of the return on equity (RoE) from 16 per cent to 14 per cent, under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's new tariff norms.

"Despite this (the lowering of the RoE), we have posted the good numbers mainly due to improved efficiency and new capacity addition," Mr Jain said.

"We have added 1,000 MW during the last nine months. Plant load factor has further improved and these have contributed to the financial performance," he said, adding the work on projects adding up to 7,790 MW was currently underway. "Over the next two years, we plan to add a capacity of 5,600 MW," he said.

Total income during the third quarter of the current fiscal stood at Rs 5,698.2 crore, against Rs 5,362.6 crore recorded during the same quarter of previous fiscal.

During the first nine months of the current financial year (April-December 2004), the company's net profit went up 32 per cent at Rs 3,513.6 crore (Rs 2,647.2 crore). The company took a hit of Rs 142 crore during the nine-month period due to the pruning of the returns.

NTPC, which went public in November 2004 and had raised Rs 5,368 crore, has utilised Rs 142.1 crore during the third quarter to part finance its capital expenditure on various projects. Of the Rs 5,368 crore, 50 per cent was paid to the Government as part of disinvestment proceeds while the company had retained Rs 2,684 crore.

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