PTC to form JVs with power generation cos

PTC India Ltd, India’s largest power trading company, is set to tie up with power generation companies in a bid to diversify its business.

“We are considering signing joint ventures with power generation companies shortly, though we will not generate power on our own,” said Tantra Narayan Thakur, chairman and managing director of the company.

Thakur said the company was initially targeting small power producers.

“We have formed a separate company that will carry out such asset-based investments,” he said. PTC Energy Ltd, the new subsidiary, would hold the ownership in the proposed joint ventures.

Thakur, however, declined to name the companies that were being considered for the partnership. He also declined to divulge the investment the company was likely to make in the joint ventures.

PTC, a state-owned company, has the mandate to enable power trading in India by entering into power purchase agreements with power-surplus entities like state electricity boards and users like private utilities and distribution companies.

“For some years there has hardly been any tradable surplus (of power). Also, because financial closure of projects has started taking longer, we devised the diversifying strategy some time back,” said another company official.