The government is working on a proposal to escrow revenue from existing central power plants to utilize it as an upfront amount for novel projects. It is also taking into account listing subsidiaries of power PSUs like NTPC and gradually offloading up to 49% stake in them, a senior official said.
According to the proposal, revenue of ongoing projects can be escrowed in the name of successful bidders for 10-15 years.
While the purchasers get assured income for a long term, the power companies get to invest the amount left after debt servicing and operation and maintenance costs in new projects, the official said.
The central government has proclaimed a Rs 6
lakh-crore plan of leasing assets of PSUs in roads, railways and power for 25 years, after which they will be returned back to the government. Besides infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) of power assets, it is looking to monetise land parcels with PSUs worth Rs10,000 crore through an e-bidding platform.
"Tariffs of power plants are certain for a longer period. Discussions have been held between concerned government departments to explore the revenue securitisation plan," the official stated, adding, a strong interest is expected from global and domestic pension funds, domestic mutual funds and insurance funds.
The Centre is also considering offloading stake in NTPC's renewable arm, NTPC Renewable Energy, and trading arm, NVVN, after listing them in the next 1-2 years.
The official said NTPC's renewable sector is expected to attract good investors. NTPC has set an ambitious target of 60 GW installed renewable energy capacity by 2032, which entails a total investment of Rs2.5 lakh crore.
Power Grid Corp has proclaimed plans to bring in 18 projects involving an investment of Rs22,500 crore under its InvIT. PGCIL had in April this year launched InvIT-first by any public sector company-offering five 'initial portfolio assets' of Rs10,384 crore value.
InvITs are instruments on the pattern of mutual funds and are designed to pool small sums of money from a number of investors to invest in assets that give cash flow over a period of time.
