The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) on Wednesday reported a flat growth in net profit at Rs.8,886 crore for the year ended March 31, 2011, against Rs.8,728 crore reported in the previous year as State electricity boards (SEBs) bought less power from the grid.
“We made the power plants available, but the SEBs did not draw power from those projects. This led to less generation of power and therefore less revenue,'' NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury told reporters at the annual press conference in New Delhi.
Net sales increased by 16.36 per cent to Rs.53,721 crore in 2010-11 from Rs.46,169 crore in 2009-10. In the fourth quarter of 2010-11, net sales rose by 17.74 per cent to Rs.14,488 crore from Rs.12,305 crore in the year-ago period.
The company has more than doubled its capital expenditure for the current fiscal to Rs.26,400 crore from Rs.12,818 crore in 2009-10.
The company also informed about its plan to set up 15 new thermal power projects in the next five to seven years, aggregating a total generation capacity of around 30,000 MW.
“We have plans to set up 15 greenfield projects, mostly coal-based in the next five to seven years. The company is now working on a basket of projects of more than 45,000 MW combined capacity. NTPC generated 220.54 billion units of electricity as against 218.84 billion units in 2009-10,'' Mr. Chaudhary said.
The company, which has a total coal requirement of about 162 million tonnes during the fiscal, has set a goal of importing 14 million tonnes. It has already signed an agreement with the State Trading Corporation for importing 12 million tonnes.
NTPC said it was bullish on the nuclear power venture and was banking on the expertise of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for this venture to take off successfully. “Our first nuclear project would be with the indigenously manufactured technology available with NPCIL. The country should not stop work on nuclear power because of the Japan crisis and should instead focus on safety aspects,'' he said.
NTPC is also looking at executing projects abroad and has so far selected neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. “The feasibility report for the site at Khulna has been prepared by NTPC and handed over to the Bangladesh Power Development Board. For the Sri Lanka project joint venture, the agreement would be signed after clearance from the Sri Lankan government and a detailed project report is under way for the Bhutan project,'' he said.
