NTPC posts 3.85% net gain in FY08

NTPC, the country's largest power producr, recorded a 3.85 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 7,129.3 crore in the financial year ended March 2008 (FY08).

The profit grew on the back of a 13.53 per cent rise in annual net sales to Rs 37,004.6 crore from Rs 32,592.2 crore in 2006-07.

The stronger growth in net sales as compared with net profit was attributed to higher provisions for wages and foreign exchange variations. The company did not disclose the details.

"Better efficiency and increased power generation resulted in higher sales and profits," the company's finance director A K Singhal said.

However, the company's shares fell 0.91 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to end the day on Rs 186. 
 

HIGH CIRCUIT
Rs crore	2006-07	2007-08	%chg
Sales	32592.20	37004.60	13.54
Net profit	6865.00	7129.30	3.85

The state-run company, part of the BSE's 30-stock Sensex, generated 200.86 billion units of electricity during 2007-08, 6.46 per cent higher than that generated in the previous financial year.

NTPC, the country's third largest company by market capitalisation, recorded a 12.7 per cent growth in gross revenues to Rs 39,873.4 crore during the financial year as compared with Rs 35,380.7 crore in 2006-07.

During the year, the company's coal-based power plants recorded a plant load factor of 92.24 per cent as against 89.43 per cent in the previous financial year.

Its gas-based power plants, however, suffered as the company received 11.7 million cubic metres per day (mcmd) of gas during the year, falling short of its requirement of 17.35 mcmd for its plants to operate at 90 per cent plant load.

"This affected the performance of our gas-based power stations," T Sankaralingam, chairman and managing director, NTPC, said.

It also garnered 122.94 million tonnes (mt) of coal, 9.76 per cent higher as compared with 112 mt in 2006-07. Of the total coal it received, the company imported 2.5 mt. Coal imports were expected to double to around 5 mt in 2008-09, Sankaralingam said.