NTPC, India’s biggest power producer, said it has taken a loan of Rs 5,000 cr from the State Bank of India to fund its capital expenditure.
The loan is repayable over a period of 12 years.
This is one of the first large corporate loans extended by Indian banks after the NPA crisis, in which loans worth trillions of rupees extended to corporations are lying unpaid and unserviced, forcing taxpayers to put in their money to save the banks.
NTPC is expected to add around 7 GW of capacity in the current financial year, and spend around Rs 23,000 cr this year on capital expenses, such as construction and equipment.
NTPC’s capex has come down steadily from around Rs 30,000 cr two years ago to around Rs 28,000 cr last year and the estimated Rs 23,000 cr this year.
The company has a total installed capacity of around 54 GW, most of which is in the form of coal-based, or thermal, power plants.
It is currently building an additional capacity of over 21,000 MW across the country, including solar and hydro.
The company was founded in 1975 as “National Thermal Power Corporation Private Limited” and started work on its first thermal power project in 1976 at Shaktinagar in Uttar Pradesh.
The company began selling power in 1983, marking the start of commercial operations.