Power Trading Corp Skirts Default

Power Trading Corporation of India Ltd (PTC) is expecting a 50 per cent return on its equity this year, which has made Tata Power and BSES line up to buy 10 per cent of its equity each.

Damodar Valley Corporation has already bought a 6 per cent stake in the company, and is set to pick up another 4 per cent.

Financial institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation (GIC), Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), and Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) are chipping in to get another 18.5 per cent. A host of independent power producers (IPPs) have also approached PTC for a slice of its equity.

PTC is targeting a turnover of Rs 900 crore and profits after tax of Rs 16 crore on an equity base of Rs 30 crore in 2002-03.

During April-December, 2002, PTC sold 3 billion units of energy. It aims to sell 4 billion units by the end of the current financial year. In 2001-02, PTC