NHPC to shortly decide upon buying co-promoters stake in PTC, says CMD Raj Kumar Chaudhary | Company Business News

New Delhi: India’s largest hydropower firm, NHPC Ltd, will shortly decide upon acquiring shares of other public sector entities in power trading major PTC India, and the state-run firm will inform the power ministry about its decision, said NHPC chairman and managing director Raj Kumar Chaudhary.

On 10 January, Mint reported that NHPC is keen on buying out its public sector co-promoters’ shares in power trading firm PTC. NHPC, NTPC Ltd, Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd and Power Finance Corp. Ltd hold about 4.05% each in PTC India, totalling 16.2%. Chaudhary said that the discussions are ongoing within the company.

“We currently have about 4% equity share, and the other companies also have about 4% each. A few of the companies want to exit. NHPC was asked whether it is also interested in exiting. So, we have said that we are not interested in exiting the PTC shareholding…We will continue our investment in PTC. But the question remains whether we are going to increase our holding in the company,” he said.

“We are discussing the matter within our organization, and very shortly, we will let the power ministry know whether we want to increase our holding in PTC,” he added.

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Last month, power ministry officials met executives from the four public sector undertakings (PSU) to discuss the stake sale in PTC India.

As NHPC already has a licence for trading power, increasing its stake in PTC India would expand the hydropower company’s share in the power trading space. The move may help NHPC since it is involved in hydro projects in Nepal and Bhutan, countries that export power to India. Having a power trading company of its own would help NHPC manage efficient trading and supply of green power. PTC India is among India’s largest power trading companies. 

Interestingly, PTC shareholder NTPC has a separate power trading arm, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd.

NHPC, however, does not plan to buy PTC India Financial Services (PFS), the controversy-hit financing arm of PTC India. Both PTC India and its subsidiary PFS have been under regulatory scrutiny over issues of corporate misgovernance and PFS’s ever-greening of loans.

PTC India and its subsidiary PFS have been in the limelight after several PFS directors resigned in February 2022, alleging corporate misgovernance. In June 2024, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) barred PTC India’s erstwhile chairman, Rajib Kumar Mishra, and PFS’ former managing director, Pawan Singh, from holding any position on the board or management of listed companies for six months and two years, respectively, over suspected corporate misgovernance in PFS. The market regulator also imposed penalties of ₹10 lakh and ₹25 lakh, respectively, on Mishra and Singh.

However, in December 2024, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) quashed the Sebi order barring Mishra as a director in listed firms. Mishra approached SAT on the grounds that he was not in charge of PFS. Following this, the PTC India board met and decided that Mishra could not be inducted as a director or CMD of the company.

Expanding portfolio

The state-run hydropower company is looking at expanding its portfolio in the energy space from conventional hydro to renewable sources like solar, wind, pump storage projects, and green hydrogen.

With projects in Nepal and talks underway with Bhutan, the company plans to expand its operations. A larger trading portfolio would help the company in its operations across the power supply ecosystem.

For the quarter ended December, its total income stood at ₹2,616.89 crore, 2.6% higher than ₹2,549.69 crore in the same period last fiscal. However, its consolidated net profit fell 47% due to higher expenses to ₹330.13 crore.