• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Archana Chaudhary

Mumbai , Feb. 5

THE country will see an addition of close to 5,000 MWof private sector power generation capacity over the next two years.

This will help the country draw closer to meeting its 10th Five Year Plan target of adding 41,000 MW of power generation by 2006-07. Currently, 35,000 MW generation capacity has either been commissioned or is in construction stage.

According to officials at financial institutions, the additional capacity will come from projects that have achieved financial closure through the Inter Institutional Group (IIG) of banks formed by the Government, coupled with independent projects being set up on a small scale.

IIG, formed by the Union Government to speed up financial closures of private sector generation projects, has helped 11 projects totalling 4,000 MW capacity to raise total debt of Rs 9,287 crore. The debt:equity ratio for the projects has been fixed at 2.2:1

IIG comprising Industrial Development Bank of India, Power Finance Corporation, ICICI Bank, Industrial Development Finance Corporation, State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation is now considering loans to eight new projects. These projects, five of them above 1,000 MW , will add close to 9,500 MW of new capacity on completion.

According to a senior FI official, the Union Government is considering the possibility of conferring `mega power project' status for projects of capacity above 500 MW. Mega power status allows projects to avail themselves of tax exemptions. Promoters are also asking for mega power project status for projects above 250 MW, he said.

Studies carried out for the 11th Plan (2007-2012) have indicated that an additional 60,896 MW is required to meet growing demand in India.

The installed generation capacity in India has increased from a mere 1,362 MW in 1947 to about 1,12,058 MW in March 2004, according to Central Electricity Authority's National Electricity Plan. Annual generation has grown from about five billion units to about 558 billion units.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Marketing can be done without a patent: Madras HC

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line