The profits margins of Gujarat Urja Vikas Limited (GUVNL) — an apex body of Gujarat government engaged in bulk sale and purchase of electricity — have been on a decline since the last four consecutive years.
In its annual report tabled in Gujarat Assembly earlier this week, the Profit After Tax (PAT) for the company declined by more than 29 percent for the year 2022-23.
According to the standalone financial performance during the financial year 2019-20, GUVNL reported a profit of ₹106 crore. This dipped to ₹95 crore during a Covid-pandemic-affected 2020-21. It fell further to ₹64 crore in 2021-22 and to ₹45 crore in 2022-23. Senior GUVNL officials could not be contacted on the issue.
Annual report
The profits have largely been impacted by the costly electricity GUVNL has been purchasing, the annual report stated. During the year, the per unit power purchase cost for GUVNL increased to ₹6.01 as compared to ₹5.1 in 2021-22. In comparison, the annual report points out that the per unit realisation for the company stood only at ₹5.66 per unit, compared to ₹5 the previous year.
Though there has been more than 25 percent more revenues from the sale of power for GUVNL, it has been overshadowed by the rising expenditure which rose by more than 30 percent during 2022-23. “The Company earned total revenue from Sale of Power to the tune of ₹68,21,060.95 Lakh as against ₹54,39,985.59 Lakh in the previous year. Correspondingly, total expenditure incurred on Purchase of Power is ₹72,41,567.80 Lakh as against ₹55,52,540.90 Lakh in the previous year,” the report added.
According to GUVNL’s annual report, the installed power generation capacity of Gujarat stood at over 42700 MW.