Expect a better Q4; UDAY scheme to aid growth: NTPC

State-run NTPC reported a 19 percent decline in its net profit to Rs 2,493 crore for the quarter ended December 2015. Total income also fell to Rs 17,657 crore from Rs 19,371 in the same period a year ago. Over supply of low-cost power hampered Q3 growth, Kulamani Biswal, Director Finance, NTPC said. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Biswal said that the low coal price benefit has been passed onto customers and that there have been improvement in coal availability.Going forward, he expects a better fourth quarter. The government’s UDAY scheme for power companies will aid growth considerably, he said. Biswal expects revenue to grow to Rs 74,000 crore and plant load factor (PLF) to be near 80 percent for the year.Below is the verbatim transcript of Kulamani Biswal's interview with Reema Tendulkar and Sonia Shenoy on CNBC-TV18.Sonia: Can you start off by telling us about this quarter's performance?A: The sales have come down from Rs 18,738.98 crore to Rs 17,317.50 crore. It is mainly due to fall in price of coal because now we have been charging less price and the entire benefit straight away goes to consumer.Similarly, the profit after tax (PAT) has come down. We are into the power generation business. This year we have improved a lot. Our current capacity if you compare with the corresponding period of the previous year, it has improved. However, because of the lower demand, we could not be able to generate power as expected.Another reason for fall in profit is last year we issued one of the venture around Rs 10,307 crore. If you take the tax impact, total cash outgo was around Rs 12,000 crore. The adjusted profit has come down 10.09 percent.Reema: What can you guide for the coming few quarters because coal prices remain subdued, you alluded to weak demand and that doesn’t seem to be changing. Your generation was down nearly 1 percent in the prior quarter, what will your guidance be on revenues and generations in the coming quarter?A: If you see the past history, Q4 is the best quarter so far power generation and demand is concerned and moreover now after implementation of this UDAY scheme, already two states have signed UDAY scheme, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP). So, once the financial health of the distribution companies improve and there is demand, our generation will improve. We will have better recovery and moreover, we are trying to reduce our coal price.Sonia: On the plant load factors (PLF) currently at 78 percent for coal, how much would it be by the end of the year and your sales as well in nine months you have done about Rs 52,000 crore of overall sales, in FY17 how much do you think it could be?A: So far as PLF is concerned, if you compare country's average PLF is much below than 78 percent and we are expecting our PLF to be at least 80 percent this year.Sonia: How much will your total revenues be in the next fiscal?A: It would be around Rs 74,000 crore. 75-80 percent of our cost is coal consumption. So if I reduce coal consumption, automatically my total revenue will reduce or remain flat.Reema: Any estimate on generation?A: At present our total generation is around 260 billion unit and generation totally depends upon the demand of the market. I foresee a reasonable increase in our generation because this UDAY scheme is implemented and if their financial position is improved and their demand increases, definitely we will generate more.(Copy edited by Rishma Kapur, interview transcribed by Sonal Jadhav)