Power Grid net up 9%

To soon raise Rs 3,000 cr in private placement of bonds

Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) has posted a net profit of Rs 1,137 crore for the first quarter of 2014-15, a rise of nine per cent from the corresponding quarter last year.

Chairman and managing director R N Nayak told reporters the total income rose to Rs 4,075 crore, an increase of 12 p;er cent from a year earlier. The total of fixed assets was Rs 101,382 crore. The share closed on Tuesday at Rs 132.25, up 20p from Monday.

PGCI is to soon raise Rs 3,000 crore through private placement of bonds. This is the first tranche of the Rs 10,000 crore to be raised through this method in 2014-15. The proceeds will be used to part-finance the Rs 22,450 crore of planned capital expenditure in the current financial year.

A PGCI official told Business Standard: ‘’The company had made capex of Rs 22,324 crore in 2013-14, of which Rs 10,000 crore was raised through private placement of bonds and the balance through internal accruals and loans already mobiliaed through multilateral and domestic institutions. Similarly, nearly Rs 10,000 crore will be raised through private placement of bonds during the current year.’’

PGCI has proposed an investment of Rs 110,000 crore during the 12th five-year plan (2012-17) on interstate transmission. It invested Rs 22,337 crore in 2012-13 and Rs 22,324 crore in 2013-14. In 2014-15, it will invest Rs 22,450 crore, with another Rs 22,500 crore in 2015-16 and then again in 2016-17.

It operates 109,000 circuit kt km of transmission lines, with 186 substations and transformation capacity of 213,000 MVa.  A  national grid with inter-regional power transfer capacity of 40,650 Mw has been established.  It is also the nodal gency for grant of long-term access to private power producers.

PGCI has also been asked by NTPC to lay transmission lines for evacuation of power from the proposed 1,000 Mw solar power project at Kadiri, in Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh. The official said the lines will be laid between Kadiri and Kadapa. ‘’We will start the work in the next 15 days and complete it in one year,’’ he added.

The official also said the Rs 11,000 crore direct current  system between Biswanath Chariali in Assam to Agra in Uttar Pradesh will be operational by the January-March quarter of 2014-15. It will help in transfer of power from the northeast to the northern and western regions.