Singareni Collieries to invest Rs 10K cr on expansion in 5 yrs

Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) will be investing about Rs 10,000 crore during the next five years on expansion programmes with a target to achieve Rs 34,000-crore revenues by then, said a top official.
N Sridhar, Chairman and Managing Director of SCCL, said the investment involves expansion of new mines, adding 800 mw to the existing 1,200 mw power plant and setting up 500 mw solar power project.
The government-owned coal mining company is poised to clock Rs 24,000-crore income this year from both selling coal and power and aims to take this figure to Rs 34,000 crore in five years.

"We are expanding the existing power plant (of 1,200 mw) by adding 800 mw. We expect the work to start next year. We are also in the process of setting up a 500 mw solar power project.
"We are opening 12 new mines (six underground and as many opencast) which will have capacity of 21 million tonnes per annum. The total investment for all the programmes would be Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years," Sridhar told PTI in an exclusive interview.
"Broadly, we see capex of Rs 2,000 core per annum from the next year for five years," he added.

Currently, the miner has 47 coal mines spread across the northern part of Telangana with about 10 billion tonne reserves. Under Sridhar, who took charge three years ago, SCCL has been showing growth in both production and dispatches.

"This year we expect 62.5 MT production by the end of the current (fiscal) year. We added about 10 MT growth during the past three years. Similarly, we may touch 65 MT this year against 52 MT three years ago," he said.
According to him, revenues may touch nearly Rs 24,000 crore, which includes income from power, in FY18 from Rs 19,274 crore in FY17, up over 23 per cent.

"We are expecting Rs 1,100 crore profit this year (FY18) as against Rs 400 crore last year. On the back of new mines, SCCL aims to take the production to 85 MT in the next five years.
"So we expect Rs 34,000-crore turnover, which will include income from both coal and power, in five years," he said.
The average price of coal the SCCL sells currently is about Rs 2,500 per tonne with different rate structure for power producers and others.
"To encourage clean energy, we are going to set up solar power projects with combined capacity of 500 mw. We have identified lands also for setting up the solar projects. The total power production capacity would be 2,500 mw (both solar and thermal) by 2022," Sridhar explained.

SCCL is a debt-free company with about Rs 6000 crore cash reserves. However, it planned to raise sole debt for the proposed 800 mw thermal power project.
Replying to a query, he said the company has sought allocation of some more coal mines for extraction from the Centre and is awaiting a reply in this regard.
The PSU earlier had called for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from global players for acquiring mines abroad.
However, slackening coal prices dampened the company's interest to acquire overseas assets.