Tata Power has planned a capex of nearly Rs 12,000 crore for the current financial year, which will primarily come from the firm’s internal accruals, Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD of Tata Power said on May 4 during a conference call with the media to discuss the company's Q4 results.
“Last year we did a capex of at least Rs 6,000 crore which was spread out between generation, transmission and distribution, but more for renewable capacity. This year also we are looking for a capex of nearly Rs 12,000 crore which mainly will come from the internal accruals that we will have. We are in good shape as far as our balance sheet is concerned,” he said.
Tata Power Company recorded a massive 48.5 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated profit at Rs 938.8 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, supported by higher other income and low base in the year-ago period, but the operating margin was weak.
Consolidated revenue from operations for the quarter came in at Rs 12,454 crore, growing 4.1 percent over the corresponding period of last fiscal with de-growth in generation and renewables segments. The 16 percent YoY growth in transmission and distribution business supported topline, Tata Power said in its filing to exchanges.
At the operating level, the power generation and distribution company of the Tata Group reported 3.2 percent on-year growth in EBITDA at Rs 1,927.7 crore in the March FY23 quarter, but the margin fell 10 bps to 15.5 percent in a similar period.
Tata Power to bid for RE tenders by CPSUs
During the conference call, Sinha said the government's latest trajectory of adding 50 GW of renewable energy (RE) capacity every year till 2028 is very ambitious and will have its own challenges.
“But Tata Power is going to participate in many of these tenders. With the government's latest solar manufacturing push, nearly 50 GW of module manufacturing will be established in the country, but yes, the equivalent capacity of polysilicon and wafers in the country will be a challenge,” he said.
Sinha also added that the company's solar cell manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu will start operations in October.
He informed that currently under Section 11, four of the five units of the Mundra power plant are operational, while one is under maintenance. Prior to that, in Q4, he said, the power plant was not operational due to high fuel costs.
He added that once Section 11 under the Electricity Act is lifted, Tata Power will sign supplementary power purchase agreements for a long-term solution to off-taking from the plant.
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