The move will bring NTPC in direct competition with PGCIL

March 13, 2015

Concerned over revised electricity tariff norms, NTPC Ltd, India’s largest power producer, may diversify into related businesses such as electricity distribution and setting up transmission links, said Kulamani Biswal, director, finance, at the state-owned utility.

Such a move will bring it in direct competition with another state-owned firm Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd (PGCIL), which operates around 113,587 circuit km of transmission lines and plans to spend Rs.1 trillion to increase India’s inter-regional power transfer capacity of 46,450 megawatts (MW) to 72,250MW by 2017.

“We can diversify into our related businesses such as distribution for forward integration and transmission. We are not looking at radical transformation and will remain in coal and power business,” Biswal told reporters.

PGCIL chairman and managing director R.N. Nayak welcomed NTPC’s move, saying: “The cake is very large and so it is good for the country.”

India has a power generation capacity of 258,701.46MW and plans to add 88,537 MW by 2017. This will require transmission links to be constructed to transfer electricity from one region to another.