NTPC Q3 net slips 7.5% to Rs 2.4k crore on higher fuel cost

State-run power giant NTPC on Wednesday registered a lower 7.5 per cent net profit at Rs 2,468.72 crore for the third quarter compared to a year ago due to higher fuel cost.

The company spent Rs 12,080.43 crore towards fuel in the quarter ended December 2016 as against Rs 10,580.28 crore in the same period in 2015.

However, the company's revenue from power generation went up to Rs 19,555.62 crore, from Rs 17,523.56 crore in the previous financial year.

The company's gross power, commercial generation and energy sent out read 61.4 billion units (BUs), 61.30 BUs and 57.28 BUs, respectively, for the quarter under review. In the December quarter of 2015, the corresponding figures were 60.78 BUs, 60.54 BUs and 56.60 BUs.

"The company has posted a net profit of Rs 2,468.72 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016, as compared to Rs 2,668.77 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015," NTPC said in a BSE filing on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the total quarterly income increased to Rs 19,646.09 crore, from Rs 17,724.68 crore a year earlier.

The company, in another filing, also told BSE that its average power tariff during the 9 months of April-December of 2016-17 was Rs 3.28 per unit.

The plant load factor (PLF) or the generation capacity utilisation at its coal-based plants was 77.21 per cent for the quarter to December, compared with 78.23 per cent in the year-ago period.

The PLF for gas-based, solar and hyrdo power projects was 23.85 per cent, 18.60 per cent and 23.17 per cent, respectively, in the said quarter.

NTPC Group's installed generation capacity stood at 48,028 MW as on December 31, 2016, compared to 45,548 MW a year ago. The company's standalone generation capacity came in at 41,062 MW as on December 31, 2016, compared to 39,352 MW earlier.

In a separate filing, the company told BSE that the board of directors at its meeting held today decided to pay interim dividend at the rate of 26.10 per cent (Rs 2.61 per share) on the face value of paid-up shares of Rs 10 each for 2016-17.

The date of payment and dispatch of dividend will be February 22, 2017, it added.