IOC may acquire 49% in NPCIL JV

MUMBAI: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) may acquire up to 49% stake in its proposed joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) as against the 26% holding announced earlier, says a senior NPCIL.

“IOC has communicated to us internally that it will acquire 49% stake in the proposed venture which will own the seventh and eight unit of Rajasthan plant of 700 mw each,” said JK Ghai, director (finance), NPCIL.

State-run IOC had earlier said that it would invest Rs 961 crore for 26% stake for setting up the 1,400 mw nuclear power project with NPCIL.

The project is being set up at a total outlay of Rs 12,000 crore, to be financed in the debt-to-equity ratio of 7:3. The state-run nuclear power producer is also forming joint ventures with other public sector enterprises such as National Aluminium Co and NTPC.

NPCIL may exceed its annual generation target of 22 billion units for 2010-11 due to availability of imported fuel, Mr Ghai said. In April-September, the utility generated 10.85 billion units of electricity, up 5% from the target for the period. “With this trend, the total generation in 2010-11 is expected to be about 10% higher than the target fixed for the corresponding period,” Mr Ghai said.