Videocon aims to double Pipavav plant capacity to 2400 MW

Videocon Group, a diverse business coglomerate, is planning to double capacity of its proposed power plant project at Pipavav in Gujarat.

The group's power arm, Videocon Power, is in the process of setting up a 1200 MW coal fired power project at Pipavav for an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore. "We have acquired land for the project and have also achieved financial closure. We are looking at doubling the power capacity by Pipavav. The company has already begun the necessary spadework and have already placed order with BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd) for machineries for 1200 MW," Venugopal Dhoot, chairman, Videocon Group.

 

The company will need to invest additional Rs 5,000 crore for the expansion, Dhoot said.

When asked about fuel linkage, Dhoot told Business Standard that the company has acquired a mine in Indonesia with a capacity of 200 million tonnes of coal. Being close to Pipavav port, the area is quite lucrative, he added.

Videocon has also signed power purchase agreement (PPA) for Pipavav project with Tata Power for about 1200 MW, according to Dhoot.

Videocon is in the process of setting up 5,000 MW of power projects in various parts of the country, not including the 1200 MW expansion at Pipavav. "The company has lined up two 1200 MW of power projects in Chattisgarh and Kolkatta. Both of these are pit-head power projects so fuel linkages are already in place," he said. Besides, it has also planned a 1200 MW power project in Maharashtra, according to sources.

Asked if the company is aiming to go public to raise funds for the power projects, Dhoot said that the execution will be carried out from internal accurals and there are no plans as of now for an initial public offer.

The company would require an estimated overall capital outlay of about Rs 30,000 crore for setting up power projects with a capacity to generate 6,200 MWs, according to industry sources.

The group today announced the launch of its GSM mobile service in Gujarat. Videocon envisages investments of around Rs 14,000 crore in Videocon Mobile Services over the next three years across India and plans to pump in Rs 1,000 crore for its 2.75G EDGE GSM venture in Gujarat. The brand will have a retail presence in over Rs 20,000 outlets in Gujarat at launch and plans to cover 45000 outlets within the next two years.

"For our mobile services, we plan to reach out to 10 crore subscribers in the next three years," Dhoot said. Videocon has partnered with Nokia Siemens Networks, Cisco, IBM, Amdocs, Gemalto, Comverse, Comviva, Avaya, Acision, Wipro, Oracle, Unisys and Huawei for its mobile venture.