Hydropower mega-merger of NHPC, two others put on hold
Mint in May that the merged entity may have a market capitalization of around ₹70,000 crore. The market cap of NHPC, the largest of the three, which was around ₹44,157.97 crore at the time, has since grown to ₹66,377.59 crore. Replying to a query from Mint, an NHPC spokesperson, however, said on Monday: “There is no concrete proposal under consideration by the management of NHPC for the merger/acquisition of THDC and Neepco with NHPC Ltd." Queries sent to the power ministry, NTPC, Neepco and THDC remained unanswered till press time.
Earlier this year, power minister R.K. Singh had said the government is considering a merger of public sector hydropower companies to improve efficiency and reduce costs. In August, Moneycontrol reported that NHPC would need at least ₹11,000 crore to acquire THDC India and Neepco.
Both THDC and Neepco are currently owned by state-run thermal power major NTPC. In March 2020, NTPC had acquired the Centre’s stake in the two companies for about ₹11,500 crore. NHPC’s total installed capacity as on 30 September was 7,097.20MW (including 1,546MW in joint ventures), comprising 6,971.20MW from 22 hydropower stations, 76MW from two solar power projects and 50MW from a wind power project.
NHPC’s hydro capacity is about 13.4% of the country’s total installed hydro capacity of 52GW. NHPC has ambitious plans in the growing pump storage projects (PSP) segment, with planned investments of up to ₹1.76 trillion for storage capacities of 20,000-22,000MW. It has signed agreements in states including Odisha and Maharashtra for setting up PSPs.
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