New Delhi, Jan. 15: The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) has turned around with a profit of Rs 123 crore in the first three quarters of the current fiscal as against a loss of Rs 408 crore last year. Neepco, with an installed capacity of 1,130 MW, is expected to end the year with a net profit of Rs 160 crore, company chairman and managing director S.C. Sharma told reporters here today.
Sharma also threw light on plans to improve its credit rating over the next three years.
The company?s previous highest profit was Rs 120 crore in 2000-01. The power generating company, that launched its operations in 1976 with an equity of Rs 75 crore, has an authorised share capital of Rs 3,500 crore. Neepco is targeting investments worth Rs 10,000 crore during the 11th Plan period.
?We will get 30 per cent support from government in form of funds and budgetary support and 70 per cent through other sources. We have already tied up a Rs 800-crore loan from SBI Caps (SBI Capital Markets) at an interest rate of 6.3 per cent and another Rs 3,000-crore loan from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) at a fixed interest rate of 6.5 per cent to be released over five years,? Sharma said.
?We will also generate additional resources from financial institutions, but before that we would like to improve our credit rating. That would allow us to get funds at lower interest rates and for that we have asked the Indian Credit Rating Agency (Icra) to undertake the rating. I have to admit that the initial report had downgraded our ratings, but we hope to improve it,? Sharma said.
The company that had exported 530 MW of power to Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana last year plans to increase it to 700 MW and also provide power to Madhya Pradesh. Till last year, Neepco had supplied power only to West Bengal (50 MW) outside the Northeast.
?We work in areas with security concerns. As a result, the efficiency of our workforce has been reduced by 25 per cent. But still we offer power at Rs 1.50 per unit of power to the SEBs. This is an achievement that has not been recognised by the power consumers,? Sharma added.
The company also plans to forge alliances with Reliance for power generation. ?A detailed presentation will be made by the company officials to Reliance Industries next week,? he said. ?A preliminary presentation has already been made and if the company is interested, we would like to have a joint venture with them,? Sharma said.