The Hindu Business Line : PowerGrid mulls bond offer to part fund expansion

Hyderabad, July 12 Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, which has charted out a capex of Rs 55,000 crore during the XI Plan period, is considering a domestic bond offer to part fund its expansion.

Most of the funds (about 76 per cent) of the Rs 55,000-crore have been firmed up. This includes Rs 13,000 crore though internal resources and the rest through bilateral means, according to Mr S.K. Chaturvedi, Chairman and Managing Director of PGCIL.

“To close capex, we expect to raise funds through a domestic bond offer, possibly in the later part of the year. However, there is no plan to come up with a follow-on public offer in the immediate future. We may consider follow-on offer in 2011,” he said.

Speaking to newspersons here after laying the foundation of its regional corporate office, Mr Chaturvedi said “during the current fiscal, PGCIL expects to invest about Rs 11,500 crore. This will be stepped up to Rs 14,000-15,000 crore by the end of the XI Plan.”

Referring to the aspect of encouraging private players in distribution, Mr Chaturvedi said five joint ventures, including with Tatas, Reliance and Torrent, have been doing well. More such ventures are in the pipeline.

With the Government’s target of adding 78,000 MW during XI Plan, PGCIL is in the process of adding several major lines to the grid to help evacuate power. These include a Rs 12,000-crore line to evacuate power from North East and another major line to serve Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Ultra mega projects

“With ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) coming up, there is major thrust on power evacuation. We expect to invest up to Rs 5,000 crore for Krishnapatnam UMPP alone and another Rs 5,000 crore for transmission for independent power producers (IPPs) in Andhra Pradesh. Of the nine IPP applicants for open access system, five have been cleared,” he mentioned.

“The corporation is set to recruit a couple of thousand more during the Plan period as it invests in new projects,” he mentioned.

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