Maha Govt proposes IPO of its generation & transmission companies

Timing to be decided after talking to merchant bankers

Maharashtra government proposes to go in for IPO of its generation and transmission companies. The state-run Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MahaGenco) and Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company (MahaTransco) have already completed internal studies and held discussions with the merchant bankers.Currently, the state government holds 100 per cent equity in both these companies.

MahaGenco's  current operating capacity is 7,652 MW which is thermal based and in addition to this the company also operates the hydel generation stations with total installed capacity of 2,579 MW, which are owned by the state irrigation department.  MahaGenco is implementing capacity addition programme of 4,230 MW and another 8,850 MW is in advanced stages of planning. Besides, the company was also examining the feasibility of future projects of Rs 3,960 crore.

Mahagenco official said "Our profit was Rs 113 crore in 2006-07, Rs 300 crore in 2007-08, Rs 84 crore in 2008-09, Rs 203 crore in 2009-10, Rs 304 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 200 crore in 2011-12. MahaGenco has yet to recover nearly Rs 3,500 crore from Maharashtra State Power Distribution Company (MahaVitaran).

As far as MahaTransco is concerned, it had earned the profit of Rs 168 crore in 2006-07, Rs 258 crore in 2007-08, Rs 135 crore in 2008-09, Rs 245 crore in 2009-10, Rs 329 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 565 crore in 2011-12 (provisional). The company owns and operates most of state’s transmission system. MahaTransco operates a transmission network of 39871 Circuit KM of transmission lines and 559 EHV Substations with 89178 MVA transformation capacity. This infrastructure constitutes most of the inter regional as well as intra regional electric power transmission system in the State.

State energy minister Rajendra Tope confirmed the government's move in this regard. He told Business Standard "The government is quite serious for IPOs of both MahaGenco and MahaTransco. Our state will be the first to actually go in for IPO. The erstwhile Maharashtra State Electricity Board was unbundled into three separate companies for generation, distribution and transmission in 2005. During first phase an infrastructure plan of Rs 9,500 crore has already been completed and the state cabinet will soon clear second phase of Rs 6,500 crore." He informed that the timing of the IPO of MahaGenco and MahaTransco would be decided after their accounts are finalised and also after seeking the views from the merchant bankers.