Government scouts for CMDs for India's biggest power sector firms

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The government has set the ball rolling for the selection of chairperson and managing directors (CMDs) for two of the biggest public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the power sector - NTPC Ltd and NHPC Ltd.

For NTPC, India's biggest electricity producer with a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 3.2 lakh crore, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) is in its final stages of selection, officials said.

CMD Gurdeep Singh is scheduled to retire on July 31 and position will fall vacant on August 1.

On March 10, the power ministry shared a fresh notice issued by the PESB, calling applications for the post of CMD of NHPC, India's biggest hydropower producer. The last date of submitting applications is April 11.

The market capitalisation of the Navratna PSU  is Rs 76,453 crore.

The post will be vacant on July 1 after CMD Raj Kumar Chaudhary's superannuates on June 30.

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The appointments will come at time when India is pulling all the stops to meet its burgeoning power demand.

The government has also set a target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacity by 2030, the implementation of which lies with NTPC and NHPC.

NTPC aims to achieve 60 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2032. In addition, it plans to invest $62 billion to build 30 GW of nuclear power capacity, tripling its original target, and aims to be a 130 GW company with a diversified fuel mix by 2032. At the end of 2024, NTPC had an installed capacity of 76.6 GW.

As of December 31, the installed capacity of NHPC was 7,232.90 megawatt (MW). About 15 percent of India’s hydropower projects are owned by NHPC.