Union power minister Manohar Lal on Wednesday suggested Damodar Valley Corporation should explore the possibility of floating an initial public offer (IPO) to fund its expansion plans.
The power minister on Wednesday held a review meeting at the DVC headquarters in Calcutta.
According to a statement from the power ministry, during the discussion, the minister has stressed upon the need to increase the renewable energy portfolio of DVC and bring in more efficiency in the operations.
“He suggested that DVC may explore the equity market for fund raising for its future growth plans,” the statement said.
A public offer for the power utility has been part of the discussion several times in the past.
But with DVC now working out a capacity expansion programme with estimated capital expenditure to the tune of around ₹60,000 crore, a public offer could unlock opportunities to raise fund to support the planned projects.
Another area of discussion was around the corporatisation of the entity and unbundling of transmission generation and distribution into separate entities for greater operational efficiency.
DVC currently has three stakeholders – the central government and the state governments of Bengal and Jharkhand and according to sources, this is likely to remain intact in the future.
DVC has plans to add 3720mw thermal power capacity and 2500mw pump storage projects and is also expanding into the renewables sector to have an aggregate capacity of more than 15,000mw by 2030.
The thermal power major is setting up two units of 660mw each at Raghunathpur in the second phase. It has two operating units of 600mw each at the location.
The power supply is expected to be commercially operational by 2027-28. In addition, DVC is setting up two units of 800 MW each at Koderma as part of the second phase expansion of the project in Jharkhand.
DVC has finalised the tender for the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) of the expansion at Koderma with Bhel for ₹13,300 crore.
A new unit of 800 MW is also being set up at Durgapur besides two pump storage projects of 1500mw and 1000mw at Jharkhand and Bengal, respectively.
