The Hindu Business Line : NTPC Q4 net dips 37 pc

Mr T. Sankaralingam, Chairman and Managing Director, NTPC, flanked by Mr Chandan Roy (right), Director Operation, and Mr R.K. Jain, Director Technical, at a press conference in the Capital on Thursday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , April 20

NTPC Ltd, the country's largest power producer, on Thursday reported a provisional net profit of Rs 1,454 crore for the fourth quarter of the last fiscal, down 36.6 per cent from Rs 2,293 crore a year earlier. The provisional sales for the quarter, however, rose 11.84 per cent during the fourth quarter this fiscal to Rs 7,107 crore.

"The decline in net profit last fiscal was on account of some extraordinary income earned during 2004-05. If we take into account this factor, profits have actually gone up this time around on a like-to-like comparison," said NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr T. Sankaralingam, while announcing the company's annual results here today.

For the fiscal 2005-06, the company reported a 1.73 per cent drop in provisional net profit at Rs 5,706.10 crore, compared to Rs 5,807 crore in previous fiscal. Net sales rose 15.36 per cent in 2005-06 to Rs 25,992.8 crore in 2005-06 against Rs 22,531.6 crore in the previous year, he said.

Reasons for fall

Giving details of the fall in profits, NTPC Director (Finance), Mr A.K. Singhal, said the Corporation had earned an additional one-time income of Rs 1,164 crore during the fourth quarter of 2004-05. If this amount were to be excluded, the fourth quarter net profit in 2005-06 would have grown by around 25 per cent, he said.

The company has planned a capital expenditure programme of Rs 11,325 crore for 2006-07 against Rs 7,187.9 crore in 2005-06. The capex would be funded in a debt-equity ratio of 70:30 and the company would borrow about Rs 7,500 crore from domestic and overseas markets this fiscal for its expansion programme.

Capacity expansion

Mr Sankaralingam said the company has added 4,000 MW of capacity in the Tenth Plan and is targeting the commissioning of another 3,710 MW during the current financial year. During the Eleventh Plan of 2007-12, the company would add about 17,000 MW generating capacity. The power major has also been diversifying in related energy sectors such as coal mining, gas exploration, hydro and nuclear projects, he said.

On the strategy to tackle the ongoing gas shortage, he said the company was looking at various options, including taking equity stake in gas fields and buying gas from the spot markets. An NTPC delegation would also shortly visit Nigeria to scout for gas, he said, but declined to elaborate.

Plans nuclear plants

The company also plans to set up nuclear power plants and has appointed three consultants for evaluating technical, commercial and geo-political options for the new venture, Mr Sankaralingam said. According to the company plan, NTPC is targeting the setting up of nuclear plants with a cumulative capacity of 2,000 MW by 2017, he said. The company is setting up four integrated coal mining-cum-power projects in next few years.

It has also submitted expressions of interest for two ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each to be set up at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Mundra in Gujarat.

On Dabhol project, now renamed Ratnagiri Gas and Power, he said the plant would start generation by May. Initially, it would be run on naphtha and the tariff is likely to be around Rs 4.25 per unit, he said.

As part of efforts to globalise its operations, the state-run giant is also looking to set up a coal-fired plant in Sri Lanka and is opening an office in Dubai. "The draft MoU to set up a 500 MW power plant in Sri Lanka is now under discussion," he said.

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