After NHPC, govt to divest 10 per cent stake in SJVNL

NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling over offloading 10 per cent stake through a public offer in hydro power company Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam this fiscal and is hoping to raise Rs 1,200 crore.

After NHPC, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam will be the second hydro power company in which the government will divest its stake through initial pubic offer.

SJVNL is a joint venture between the Centre and Himachal Pradesh government in the ratio of 75:25.

Earlier, the government has finalised the IPO of National Hydro Power Corporation. The government would offload five per cent of its shareholding in it hoping to raise Rs 840 crore plus the premium charged on each share of face value Rs 10. NHPC will raise Rs 1,680 crore by way of fresh equity.

"The public offering to offload government's 10 per cent shareholding may happen by the end of this fiscal. The state government (Himachal Pradesh) has already given a 'No Objection Certificate' (NoC) for the disinvestment," SJVNL Chairman and Managing Director H K Sharma told PTI.

The company has announced an investment of over Rs 23,000 crore in the next 10 years to add 4,000 MW capacity to its existing 1,500 MW.

"In the next ten years or so we will be investing over Rs 23,000 crore for executing our projects...(we have) projects of about 4,000 MW capacity lined up for commissioning by 2020," Sharma said.