Indian PSU Sector Looking Beyond

Banks Capitalised For Lending And Meeting CAR Norms

The king of insurance industry in India, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has invested Rs 2137 crore in four public sector banks. The investment was made through the preference share route. LIC picked preferential shares worth Rs 1037 crore in Bank of India (BOI), Rs 650 crore in Union Bank of India (UBI), Rs 302 crore in Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Rs 148 crore in the United Bank of India. The public sector banks have been in need for capital infusion in order to meet their capital adequacy norms and also for increasing their lending activities. According to a filing on the BSE the government of India has also approved capital infusion of Rs 1440 crore for the Indian Overseas Bank. The capital infusion in IOB is part of the drive of the government to recapitalise the public sector banks.

SAIL Pays Interim Dividend (2011-12) Of Rs 425.36 Crore

SAIL paid an interim dividend (2011-12) to Government of India amounting to Rs.425.36 crore. The total interim dividend paid by SAIL comes to Rs.495.65 crore, i.e. at the rate of 12 per cent of paid up equity capital, for the year 2011-12. In addition to interim dividend, the Board of Directors of the company would also recommend Final Dividend for the year. It is pertinent to note that since its inception, SAIL has made total dividend payouts of Rs.9,392 crore equivalent to 228 per cent of its paid up capital. SAIL’s massive modernisation and expansion plan at an expenditure of about Rs 72,000 crore is in an advanced stage of implementation. This would increase hot metal capacity from the current 14.6mt/y to 23.4mt/y.

REC CSR Assistance Of Rs 10.5 crore Under Saakshar Bharat Mission

An MoU was signed between REC and National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA) on March 13, 2012 in the presence of of Hon’ble Union Minister of Human Resource Develoment, Shri Kapil Sibal, whereby REC has agreed to take up projects worth Rs 10.5 crore under the Saakhshar Bharat Mission out of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The scope of collaboration among others, broadly includes upgradation of AECs into model-AECs (mAEC) by providing ICT infrastructure viz. Projector, TVs, Computers and Solar Energy Backup equipment etc. and promotion and strengthening vocational training/skill development activities in by the State Resource Centres (SRCs). Under this CSR initiative, REC has identified those states which experience lower than the national average of Human Development Index.

BHEL Looking Beyond Power To Drive Augmentation

BHEL plans to attract more business from the oil and gas, transportation, renewable energy and defence sectors. This is because of the declining orders from the power vertical. In oil and gas, BHEL aims to become a sub-supplier to offshore rig builders. It is also addressing a big order from Delhi Metro, planning alternative propulsion for railway locomotives, and building a new factory for windmills. For Defence, it is looking at a technical partner to make large naval guns. Meanwhile according to provisional results for 2011-12, BHEL posted a 21 per cent higher net profit at Rs 6868 crore, while the turnover is up 19 per cent at Rs 49301 crore. For FY 2012-13, BHEL expects its power business to grow steeply with Rs 40000 crore worth of new orders from power generation projects. This is apart from an existing Rs 1.35-lakh crore of outstanding deliveries across sectors.

ONGC Record Production in Assam in 2011-12

State-sector oil major ONGC today said it has surpassed the production targets for 2011-12 in the Assam region. The company achieved a production of 1.190 MMT of crude during the last financial year in its Assam assets, as against a target of 1.150 MMT as per its MoU with the government, it said in a statement. The MoU target of 448.0 MMSCM for natural gas has been overachieved by 107.7 per cent with the production 474.1 MMSCM of natural gas. ONGC also said that it was able to make major progress in 2011-12 as regards the pipeline network of Lakwa oil-field, one of the main producing fields of Assam Asset.

Gujarat PSUs Contribution to GDP Increases

The Gujarat State Legislative Assembly tabled the Comptroller Auditor General’s report for the period ending on March 31, 2011 has revealed that the total contribution of the functioning PSUs to the State’s exchequer has actually increased. The report states that the ratio of PSUs’ turnover to State GDP shows a steady increase over the last few years. Though there are some State companies that are reporting losses, the total turnover of all PSUs has increased from Rs 8557.28 crore in 2005-2006 to Rs 63008.20 crore in 2010-2011, noted the CAG report. Gujarat State Petronet contributed to the tune of Rs 765 crore followed by Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (Rs 584 crore) and then Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (Rs 403 crore), as per reports.

New Projects To Fuel Growth For NTPC

NTPC plans to set up 15 new thermal power projects in the next five to seven years, over and above the projects the company is currently executing, with a total capacity of about 30000 MW. The company is currently working on 14748 MW of generation capacity, which are under construction at 15 locations. “We have plans to set up 15 greenfield projects. mostly coal-based in the next 5-7 years” Mr Roy Choudhury said, adding that the company is currently working on a basket of projects totalling around 45000 MW. NTPC is also looking at executing projects abroad and has this is in various stages of preliminary assessment for taking up projects in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The company has approved capital expenditure of Rs 26400 crore for the current financial year and plans to add 4320 MW of capacity during the period. NTPC posted a record in terms of its highest ever capacity addition — of 2490 MW — during the previous year, with its total generation capacity reaching 34194 MW.

A K Singhal
Director (Finance), NTPC

A K Singhal, Director (Finance) NTPC has been bestowed CFO 100 Roll of Honour for the year 2011-12. This is the second consecutive year that this recognition has been given to him for his ‘Winning Edge’ in Corporate Governance & Financial Control at a function held in Mumbai on March 20, 2012. Under his able guidance and leadership, NTPC has won many awards & accolades for excellence in Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance.