NTPC Limited (NSE:NTPC)

Investor Day 2022

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Aug 1, 2022

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. A very warm welcome to the NTPC 18th Annual Analyst and Investor Meet. We are meeting after three years, physically meeting after three years, because the last two and a half years has been very difficult for almost everyone due to COVID, the pandemic. As you know, India is still one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and power sector is a key enabler for India's economic growth. India's power sector is one of the most diversified in the world and is undergoing significant transformation. Further, with the Government of India's focus on power for all, there has been accelerated demand in the country with every Indian now has access to electricity. Power sector is poised for a long-term growth. As we see power demand grow substantially, there is a sizable growth ahead for our company. Our company, under the visionary leadership of our CMD and board of directors, has shown character, maturity, and resilience in dealing with the changing landscape in power sector. We have and would continue to demonstrate to the world with going way forward. With all this happening, what can we do to realize more value for our stakeholders? To discuss this today, we have with us our Chairman, Shri Gurdeep Singh, and Director, Operations, Shri Ramesh Babu, Director, Commercial, Shri Chandan Kumar Mondol, Director, Project, Mr. Ujjwal Kanti Bhattacharya, and Director, Finance, Mr. Jaikumar Srinivasan. All of them are esteemed personalities in their field and need no introduction, but still it's my responsibility to briefly introduce to them. Shri Gurdeep Singh is Chairman and Managing Director of the company. He is in the middle. He has an illustrious career of spending over 35 years in the power sector. He, along with his team, is leading the energy transition in NTPC. He has launched a series of initiatives to sustain NTPC's growth and bring about cultural changes necessary to maintain NTPC's position as a leading global power company. His thrust mainly on minimizing environmental footprint and maximizing sustainability efforts and a focused approach of low cost, low emission aligns with India's ambitious target of cleaner and affordable power for all. On the right of Shri Gurdeep Singh is our Director, Operation, Shri Ramesh Babu. He has 35 years of vast experience with outstanding contribution in management of large size plants in the area of power plant operation and maintenance, renovation and modernization of old units, and in the area of efficiency and improvement of thermal plants. As Director, Operation, he is responsible for overall planning for safe, reliable, and efficient operation of all power generating units of NTPC while ensuring fuel security and environmental compliances at all power stations. On the left of Shri Gurdeep Singh is with Director, Commercial, Shri Chandan Kumar Mondol. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the power sector and has worked both power plant and corporate functions. As a strategic planner, Shri Mondol has led several initiatives of NTPC. He has worked towards developing commercial and marketing strategies, execution of power purchase agreements, and policy advocacy with various authorities. Mondol has also has the enviable task of ensuring realization from discoms, which has been attained beyond 100% levels year after year. On the left of Shri Mondol is Shri Ujjwal Kanti Bhattacharya, our Director, Project. He has rich experience of greenfield power project construction, power plant operation and maintenance, renovation and modernization, environment management sector. He, along with his team, is credited with the turning around the Talcher station, which went on to become a top performing station year after year. He had illustrious careers in business development function of NTPC, both domestic as well as international arena. He has been at the forefront of JV formation and project conceptualization of 1,320 megawatt Maitree Power project at Bangladesh. On the right of Director, Operation, Shri Ramesh Babu, Shri Jaikumar Srinivasan. He has recently joined our board as Director, Finance. He brings with him more than 30 year of experience in power and mining sector in state and central PSUs in the field of finance, accounts, taxation, commercial, electricity regulation, renewables, IT project development. Before his appointment as Director, Finance, NTPC, he has served as Director, Finance of NLC. He also served as Director, Finance of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, prior to which he was Director of Maharashtra State Power Generation Company, MAHAGENCO. He also served as a Partner Director in various subsidiary companies of MAHAGENCO. The brief of the program is we will start with the opening remarks from our Chairman and Managing Director, followed by a brief presentation by our Director, Finance, Shri Jaikumar Srinivasan. Then house will be open for question and answer. That will be followed by tea. Thank you very much, sir. Over to Chairman, sir. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Welcome to this 18th Annual Analyst and Investor Meet. We are meeting almost after a gap of two years, 20 and 21, which you could note. Good that we could make it happen, and thanks for coming. Although we are meeting here after about three years, but nevertheless, we were connected through the online with some of you. In today's world, whatever are the events, which are more or less instantly are conveyed to each and everyone. The good thing what is coming out is that hopefully we should be out of COVID, as I think in any consumption side, it is being evident. But we all have to be really careful, and we have to take precautions because it's still not fully out. Like the demand which is happening in most of the areas, so is seen in the case of the power sector, which we all have experienced. The detailed presentation will be made by Director Finance, but I would like to just highlight few of the things and then we would request Director Finance to make the presentation, and then we will be happy to have the interaction with all of you. As we know that in the recent past has been a relentless, and the pandemic geopolitical tensions, high fuel prices, and the supply chain shortage. We have all witnessed that kind of scenario. Significant changes have happened in the energy sector globally for the past two years, and the global energy landscape is currently facing severe challenges. The fuel prices have increased significantly, and this has made energy security the topmost priority for every nation. This is quite important to highlight here that most of the international conferences, the earlier the transition was coming prior to the security, and these days the security is taking precedence to the transition. The country faced an unprecedented coal crisis last year, which continued this year as well. Domestic coal supply has not kept the pace with the required demand, leading to the increased need for the imported coal. The abnormal increase in the LNG and the imported coal prices have led to decrease in the power generation from these sources, which has increased the gap between the demand and supply. We have been carefully monitoring the fuel supply situation and have taken corrective actions on a continuous basis to ensure that the energy security of the country by ensuring reliable fuel supplies. Some of the plants could not meet the dispatches, but we had made sure that we have ensured the fuel supply, and we had been able to meet the grid requirement. This has been done by arranging maximum possible coal supplies from the domestic sources, ramping up the coal production from captive mines, and sourcing imported coal to ensure that no station is starved out of fuel. On the growth on the energy demand side, I'm glad to inform all of you that the demand for the power is increasing rapidly. The period of the low dispatch of the power and the supply overhang in the country seems to be over. We had witnessed for quite some time, in fact almost six, seven years, that there was a lot of supply overhang. For the last about a year or so, I think this overhang is more or less over and the efforts will have to be made to bring back some of the plants which were stranded, or we will have to start the new construction. We will address that issue also very soon. With the installed capacity of 400 GW, the country registered a peak demand of 211, 12 GW and energy met was 4,722 billion units. Rather million units, it's a mistake. It's 4.722 billion units. In Q1 FY23, the country has registered the generation growth of 16.8%, and the growth of NTPC generation is 21.69%. Renewable capacity addition will continue to outperform in the forthcoming years. With the limited availability of the hydro and affordable storage options, the thermal power plants are expected to play a significant role in meeting the balancing power requirements. Let me explain here a little bit that at the most of the countries, this balancing power, incidentally, this is being termed as a balancing power, although this is a base load generation. The grid is maintained through some of the flexible units of the gas-based plants. But in our case, we will have to have only and only reliance on the coal-fired plants for the even flexibility and meeting the grid requirement. Growing population along with the increasing electrification and per capita usage will further provide impetus to the rising demand for the electricity, as was mentioned that we are fastest growing economy and our per capita consumption also is getting reflected in the increase in the demand of the power supply. Due to strong demand, the PLF of the coal-based power station have increased. In Q1 of current year, the PLF of the country's coal-based stations stood at close to 70%, while the PLF of NTPC coal station was over 80%. So we have seen this after running few years that we are back to 80% PLF. It is expected that the PLF of coal-based stations may further increase. Before presenting the performance highlights, I would like to say thanks to each and every one of you for your continued support and the investment in NTPC. For those who are yet to invest with us, I would strongly recommend that you should consider it as soon as possible. Regarding NTPC performance and the way forward, our Director of Finance is going to give a detailed presentation covering various aspects. However, two points from my side for NTPC. Generation crossed 350 billion units mark for the first time and recorded an all-time high generation of 360 billion units, registering a growth of 15% as compared to country's generation growth of 8% in the same period. In the current fiscal year, we have achieved 100 billion units generation mark in 88 days, which is the best achieved till date, rather the fastest achieved till date. These numbers indicate that the growth is substantial and is likely to continue going forward. Our coal stations are having sufficient coal stock. We are working continuously to increase the machine availabilities. It is noteworthy to mention here that all the top five units in the country in terms of the PLF in the Q1 of current year are of NTPC units. This has been possible with the robust O&M practices, and these units are namely Vindhyachal Unit 5, Singrauli Unit 4, Vindhyachal 6, Korba 3, Korba 2. Achieving capacity addition of 3,372 megawatts in the last year and the commercial capacity addition of 4,032 megawatts, including 502 megawatts capacity from the renewables. Further, 172.52 megawatts renewable capacity has been added in the current financial year till date, taking NTPC Group installed capacity to 69,134 megawatts. We commissioned India's largest floating solar plant at Ramagundam in Telangana and the second largest in Kayamkulam. All of you would be knowing that these were dedicated to the nation by Honorable Prime Minister on Saturday. We achieved over 106% of the CapEx target. We have achieved the realization of INR 116,148 crores. That is 100% of the build amount. Our trade receivables are less than 45 days, which is prescribed by the regulations. NVVN, our trading arm, traded over 24 billion units of power, registering a growth of 29% vis-à-vis previous year. NVVN has started plying electric buses at Bengaluru in addition to Port Blair. We have registered a 27% in the coal production. Our coal mining team has been doing fantastic job in ramping up the coal production, and there has been increase of 27% by achieving 14 million metric ton of the coal production. NTPC Renewable Energy Limited obtained the highest domestic credit rating of AAA within one year of its incorporation and has been able to tie up its maiden domestic green loan at a very competitive rate. On our growth plan, even though our coal-based project pipeline, the under construction is becoming slim. All remaining projects are either pit head or they are situated on the mine, and we are planning to take up the new construction projects, which we will be just explaining very soon. With the commissioning of these projects, our generation shares will see the further rise in our share of the total power supply to the country. With the target of achieving 60 gigawatt renewable energy capacity by 2032, apart from the 2 gigawatt capacity which is already commissioned, over 4 gigawatt capacity is under construction stage and 5 gigawatt is under bidding stage. We are working on the multiple fronts and multiple models to realize the targeted capacity addition in renewables. Further efforts are on for partnering with the commercial and industrial consumers for supplying renewable and RTC power. RTC is around the clock. Work at the largest renewable energy park at Khavda, which is going to be 4,750 megawatts in Gujarat, has started. We signed the MoU with the government of Rajasthan for allocation of land parcel for setting up aggregate renewable capacity of 10 gigawatt. Considering the changes happening across the globe while giving utmost thrust for adding renewable capacity, needs have been felt for adding coal-based capacity as well, as it will provide the resilience to the sector for meeting the increasing demand. Accordingly, we are considering a few expansion projects at existing pit head plants, and very soon we will be explaining that we are very close to award the new projects, maybe in this month itself or the next month, as we are going to complete one or two of the formalities. As we march ahead in our capacity addition program, we are planning for achieving 65 GW capacity by next year, August. We are also progressing well in the green hydrogen space. Work is in progress at Leh on an integrated project for mobility, whereby intra-city bus would ply using green hydrogen. In addition to the green methanol pilot project at Vindhyachal, the work for blending green hydrogen with the natural gas at Kawas is also in progress. These two new initiatives, the foundation stone was laid by the honorable Prime Minister recently. Captive coal mining target is said to be 26 million metric ton for the current fiscal. As I just mentioned, last year it was 14, so there is a quantum jump which is coming. Targeting to reach 50 million metric ton by 2027. This shall help in reliable fuel supply to our power stations. Working on the energy storage space and discussions are underway for adding the nuclear capacity. This is a new thing which probably you will be hearing that we are bringing this and we are seriously thinking on this nuclear, how to participate in the nuclear because the act is really enabling now rather than restricting. Any government company can start entering into the nuclear capacity. We are committed towards providing reliable and affordable power for all, striving for the clean energy leadership in India. Emphasis on capability building for ensuring the leadership pipeline to maintain the sectoral leadership. On the ESG side, I think there has been many concerns and talks, but our efforts are on, and we are doing everything possible. We are diligently following ESG principles. We are timely responding to any of the ESG-related queries by all investors and ESG rating analysts, separately providing ESG data disclosures on our NTPC website. In the recently released Sustainalytics reports, ESG risk rating of NTPC has been upgraded with one band. Incidentally, it is from severe to the high risk. So at least it has moved from the one band, and this is reduced from 41.3 to 36.6. Implemented the strong ethics, fair corporate governance, effective risk management, extensive stakeholder engagement, and stringent safety measures at all our power systems. Making integrated annual report based on the GRI and IR framework since FY 2020 with the sustainability disclosures of entire NTPC Group companies. NTPC is engaging with the NITI Aayog to develop its roadmap for the net zero GHG emission alignment to the India's NDCs. NTPC has co-founded the Global Alliance for Sustainable Energy along with 16 energy players such as Enel, ABB, Iberdrola, 3M, to ensure the renewables are wholly sustainable for the people and the planet and lead to a just transition way forward for the cleaner fuels. Became the first PSU to implement the dedicated sustainable supply chain guideline with the focus on the ESG assessment of the suppliers and their capacity building. We have resumed the Girl Empowerment Mission program, which was interrupted for the last two years due to COVID-19 imposed restrictions, and trained over 22,500 school-going girls. The program is expected to create a long-lasting positive impact on the young girls and on the society itself when they grow up. NTPC received the CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2021 as well like the last year. On the dividend side, we have paid dividend 29 consecutive years, and the dividend is slightly on the increasing trend. Company is committed to deliver sustainable value to its all stakeholders. We have been consistently paying dividend as per DIPAM guidelines rather than trying to exceed, and this trend is expected to continue in future as well. Before I request Director Finance, let me reiterate here that we are no more only one power generator. We are generating power from almost all the sources. Unlike when we met in 2019, where only transition renewable was being talked about, there is a requirement, and we will have to put the new coal-based plants in addition to completing the present ones. And we will make sure that we will go aggressively in these oil areas to ensure that the country's every citizen is getting reliable and affordable power as per the commitment from the Government of India. With this, I would like to assure all of you that we will continue to put tireless efforts for maximizing profitability in a sustainable manner and bring value to the shareholders, in addition to providing the reliable and affordable power to every citizen. Thank you, and I would request Director of Finance to make the presentations. Thank you, sir. Once again, welcome all of you for this 18th Analyst and Investor Meet. I have taken over as Director of Finance only last week. So I feel greatly privileged to stand up before you and getting an opportunity to present our operational and financial overview. At the same time, I feel entitled also, if some of you pose very grueling question, I can always deflect it. Our CMD Sahib, in his opening remarks, has been both very comprehensive in his overview, at the same time, very succinct. I, on my part, would make all efforts to keep it very brief. But nevertheless, the sheer size of the company, the geographical diversity, the issues involved, all this cannot be encapsulated less than half an hour. So you will have to bear with me on that count. So with that, yeah. Being the largest power generator and an important energy enabler, NTPC will be at the core of India's growth and energy transition. We would like to begin our discussion with sharing our vision for NTPC and how we expect to attain this vision. Our vision to become a global energy company and to be the prime mover of India's growth story is based on the realities of emerging energy scenario and opportunities. We are already the largest and the most efficient power company in India and moving towards becoming the world's leading energy player. We are an important element in the implementation of government's ambitious plan for building robust and modern infrastructure for power generation in India. Our vision will be actualized by our core values that we call iCommit, which is integrity, customer focus, organizational pride, mutual trust and respect, innovation and learning, and total quality and safety. These values place us in a very distinctive position as we believe we have the capability to emerge as the world's leading power company, providing reliable power and related solution in economical, efficient, and environmental friendly manner, which would be driven by innovation and agility. NTPC Group currently has operational projects across the length and breadth of the country. Our unparalleled presence across India mitigates the risk associated with operating from a limited geographical territories. Our risks are all spread out. We have operational stations consisting of units of different sizes, including stations under operations with our JV and subsidiary partners. Most of our coal-based plants are ideally located close to the fuel source. That is the hallmark of our company's thing. Fuel source, which is again, a significant strength in our business in terms of lower fuel cost because the transportation cost is cut down significantly. In this presentation, I will start with giving an overview of NTPC, followed by how we plan to spearhead energy transition. Various ESG initiatives taken by the company, being a responsible corporate citizen to improve the lives of the people and environment. We aim not only for growth but sustainable growth with due care for people and environment. Transforming power sector in India, our key growth pointers, our operational and project execution excellence, and our financials. As the largest power generator in India, we generate 24% of the nation's electricity, whereas our installed capacity is 17% of the nation's proportion. We have clearly laid down a path in the form of corporate plan to become 130 GW company by 2032, which is quite visible. With more than 16 GW capacity under construction, we are progressing very well to achieve the same. In FY 2022, we have achieved commercial capacity addition of 4,032 MW, and we are maintaining consistent operational excellence with double digit lead in percentage terms over all India PLF. NTPC would be leading India's energy transition. In line with the same, we are committed to have 60 GW RE capacity by 2032. We are also actively looking for business opportunities in green hydrogen, e-mobility, and other related fields in the entire energy value chain. We are progressing well on the ESG front also, as CMD Sahib was explaining. On the back of our ESG strategy, with clearly defined KPIs and targets. Recently, we have been upgraded in terms of rating. On the back of these trends, we have to say that we will be sustaining growth momentum while maintaining energy leadership. We are moving the company into the next orbit of profit and growth. We have huge capacity addition lined up with clear visibility to add 15 GW capacity in the next three years. And more than 60 GW capacity in the next 10 years. We aim to garner substantial share of our GOI targets for 500 GW non-fossil fuel-based capacity and 5 million ton of green hydrogen production by 2030. As a result, we plan to change our energy mix significantly over the next decade, and we lead our company's energy transition. We plan to complete FGD implementation in all our existing and future plants, entire operation under construction capacity in next three years, for which CapEx has already been committed. Further, the company is also actively engaging tie-up with commercial and industrial customer directly and allocate exclusive capacity on demand. We are considering to award 2 into 660 MW thermal project at Talcher. Our growth pathway will be widened further with growth in our captive mining capacity as well. On the back of these indicators, we can say that we will be fulfilling expectation and setting new benchmarks. We now turn to the key performance highlights for FY22, which was already an overview was given by the CMD. Our standalone regulated equity has grown to INR 70,890 crore as at FY22, a jump by 7%. We have achieved highest ever sales realization of more than INR 116,000 crore in the FY22, registering growth by 16%. We have posted highest ever standalone as well as group profit in FY22. We have added 4,032 MW commercial capacity. We have also posted highest ever group generation of 360 billion in the FY22. We are geared up for creating many such records as we spearhead energy transition. Now, coming to how we plan to spearhead the energy transition. We plan to enhance our energy portfolio by 2032 from a predominantly power generation company at present. We want to become the supplier of choice by providing clean, green, and affordable power to our beneficiaries. We plan to aggressively add renewable capacity to our portfolio. In synergy with the RE capacity, we are also working towards becoming pioneer in development of green hydrogen technology and aim to have a significant share in the hydrogen economy. We are also looking to widen our presence in the sector through power distribution, waste to wealth, consultancy, and also increase global footprints. All of this shall act to broad base our company's revenue stream and truly lead NTPC into becoming an energy company, with power generation as still the main stream. As we aspire for a wider energy portfolio, we plan to attain the same by building up on our operational project management excellence attained over the past four decades by placing even more thrust on ESG, by aggressively adding RE capacity through ultra mega renewable energy parks and other organic, inorganic modes by gainfully utilizing existing land banks and infrastructure for power and allied industry. We are confident that we would be able to achieve the same on the back of our robust financials and ability to raise funds at the most competitive rates. In sync with the Government of India's push towards renewables energy, we plan to have 60 GW plus RE capacity by 2032 as our first benchmark. Company already has 2 GW of installed renewable capacity while another 4 GW is under construction. We have won close to 4 GW tariff-based competitive bidding contracts recently since the year 2022. We are setting up country's largest solar park of 4.75 GW in Kutch district of Gujarat. Plan for development of another 19 GW ultra mega renewable energy park is in various stages. With all this, there is a clear visibility project pipeline of RE capacity on our hand, and we are well on our way to attain our target of 60 GW RE capacity by 2032. For consolidating of the identified RE portfolios into a new SPV, we have the idea of NTPC Green Energy Limited. SPV was incorporated on April 7, 2022. Business transfer agreements for existing RE assets and share purchase agreement for transfer of stake of NTPC in NREL, that is the existing company, to NGEL, has been executed on July 8, 2022. Engagement of merchant bankers for monetization is done, and monetization is expected to be completed in FY 2023, the next one year. NTPC has been at the forefront of green capacity development to realize the green energy and green hydrogen objective and the GOI's efforts toward carbon neutral economy. NTPC is building the country's first pilot project for synthesizing green methanol, setting up first green hydrogen filling station, first green hydrogen blending into piped natural gas, and first green energy storage project. As seen here, company has also signed agreements and MoUs with leading companies for developing entire green ecosystem consisting of supplying low carbon RE, RTC power, green ammonia, green methanol, the details of which are in front of you. Sustainability is a challenge being faced all across globally by energy companies today in the face of the rapidly rising consumer demand on one hand and environmental concerns on the other hand. This dichotomy is everybody's challenge. In this scenario, NTPC's sustainable strategy, which we called as The Brighter Plan with clearly defined KPIs and targets, have been brought out. We are the first energy company to declare our energy compact goals. That is 60 gigawatt RE capacity by 2032, as I said, and 10% reduction in net energy intensity by 2032 compared to 2012 level. We are developing net zero roadmap for NTPC in collaboration with the NITI Aayog. We are in regular dialogue with ESG rating agencies to address contentious issues, concerns, and sharing of data for improvement of ESG rating. Sustainalytics has upgraded our ESG rating by one notch, as was shared with you already, and we are confident that we will consistently improve our ESG ratings with better engagement in a systematic manner. A search-friendly ESG profile of NTPC has been launched on our website to enhance the visibility of our myriad efforts on various fronts on ESG to rating agencies and to public at large. I would welcome all of you to visit our website and peep into all the drill down into various aspects of this. We are committed to progress on technology front with increased efficiency and greater environmental protection. Sustainability strategy. Uniquely built on NTPC's vision, our sustainability strategy, that is The Brighter Plan which I mentioned, aims to accelerate NTPC's efforts in leading the energy transition to a decentralized, decarbonized, and digitalized energy future on triple bottom line framework, setting new benchmarks in sustainability along with entire energy value chain. It provides a broad framework for company's priorities to meet the challenge in seven focus area. That is decarbonization, air emission control, water and biodiversity conservation, circular economy, health and safety, community development, strong finance and ethics, and sustainable supply chain. The plan focuses on ensuring the sustainability of NTPC's business operations to co-creating innovative and sustainable solutions for better and greener energy future, leading to profitable business growth, reduced cost, and mitigating risk of doing business in the VUCA world. VUCA is volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity. Besides the, of course, the anxiety and uncertainty which was all-pervading in terms of pandemic. This will enable NTPC in delivering a progressive business, greener environment, and enrich lives to create shared values for all. We at NTPC have unwavering commitment towards environment. In line with our environment management motto, going higher on generation, lowering greenhouse gas intensity, our company is committed to comply with new environmental norms. For control of SOx, first FGD has been commissioned at Vindhyachal. Erection of FGD is under implementation, 60 gigawatt capacity. It is noteworthy that you take a census of all the power plants in the country. NTPC is in the forefront, and it has gone ahead in a very environmental conscious and responsible manner, has taken the lead and maximum FGDs are under implementation for NTPC alone. Year-wise implementation schedule has also been charted out to ensure smooth implementation well within the timeline set by CEA. We would be having the first-mover advantage. This is important as FGD is already under implementation at all our existing as well as upcoming plant as compared to other players. We are certain that once FGD is implemented at our plants, we will get advantage in merit order in comparison with other non-compliant plants. Further, as part of our commitment to environment, we are taking a number of blue sky initiatives such as farm to fuel, biomass co-firing, circular economy, waste to wealth. Details of all this will be available. We are committed to invest up to 1% of our distributable profit for R&D activities and climate change technology. We are amongst select utilities globally to have a dedicated technology development centers, which we called as NETRA. The focus area of NETRA are efficiency improvement, cost reduction, new and renewable energy, climate change, environmental protection, which includes water conservation, ash utilization, and waste management. NETRA also provides scientific support to NTPC station. A research advisory council comprising of eminent scientists are associated with us abroad and has been constituted to steer high-end research for the company. As far as CSR initiatives are concerned, NTPC has been spending 2% of net profit every year towards CSR activities right since FY 2014-15. Company has spent INR 357 crores on CSR activities during the last financial year. Company has led the fight against COVID pandemic from the front. Company has made a contribution of INR 410 crores since financial year 2021 to PM-CARES Fund to support Government of India in its efforts to fight COVID-19. Further, the special thrust is being given to girl empowerment, with an objective to make the girls in our country self-reliant and confident in all walks of the life. NTPC has adopted 18 Industrial Training Institute, ITIs, and is setting up eight new ones. We are also providing support to Archery Association of India for promoting of archery as part of our endeavor to support sports in the country also. NTPC CSR initiatives have touched the lives of around 18 lakh people in one way or the other at remote locations. Let us take a look at how power sector in the country is transforming and what all the various imperatives, although CMD had very shortly mentioned about this. If you can see the graph here, Indian GDP is expected to grow at a fast pace in the coming years, and the demand for energy is expected to rise in tandem with the growth of the economy. Going forward, sustained growth of GDP will contribute tremendously to the growth of the power sector. Further, there is a huge latent demand, and our demographic strength is expected to contribute to annual incremental growth of the sector in a big way. This growth is getting reflected in energy requirement as well as peak load projection by the CEA. With every Indian now having access to electricity, power sector in India is certainly poised to high trajectory growth for the future. As you can see, the projections up to FY 2030 on various install capacity, generation, peak load demand, per capita consumption, renewable capacity, coal requirement. Power sector is certainly poised for significant transformation with focus on 24 by 7 power to all. We are witnessing changes in every sphere of power sector in terms of policies, implementation. All key indicators in power sector are expected to grow at CAGR of 7% to 8%, as can be seen here. With a wave of new reforms in the form of revised tariff policy, concept on smart prepaid metering at the consumer servicing, and as well as capacity addition majorly through renewable, stress on renewable, we expect that the sector will grow substantially in this decade. What are all the key growth pointers? The key growth pointers are huge capacity addition lined up, leading Indian push towards green energy, captive coal production to fuel security, acquisition diversification of, and new avenues. Our ability to consistently improve our scalability back with sound performance is one of our biggest strength. With operational capacity of 69 GW presently and 16 GW capacity under different stages of construction, we are well on our way to achieve our goal of becoming a 130 GW company by 2032. We follow a disciplined and a prudent approach in taking up new projects and establish the availability of five critical inputs of land, water, environmental clearance, fuel linkage, and offtake before committing any major investment in any of the project. We constantly endeavor to reduce our project execution time. Our projects under construction are diverse location, which mitigates the overall execution risk to a large extent, as I initially mentioned. All these ingredients make NTPC a very good destination for investment. FY 2020 marked the beginning of a reversal in CWIP ratio. This reversal is expected to pick pace in the next three years, and we expect our capital work in progress ratio to fall steeply. Going forward, we expect growth to continue and believe that turnaround from CWIP to completed assets would be hastened up more due to greater renewable mix. Because the gestation period of a renewable will be far less compared to the weighted average would be, the turnaround time will be increasing. Our standalone regulated equity was INR 70,890 crore as on 31st March 2022, and we expect our regulated equity to increase at a CAGR of more than 10% in the next three years, considering all the projects under implementation. Coming to the coal side, NTPC coal mining portfolio consists of coal mines having estimated geological reserves of 5 billion ton and ultimate mining capacity of 71 million metric ton per annum. Our growth path has widened with commercialization of Pakri Barwadi mine with effect from April 1, 2019, and Dulanga mine with effect from October 1, 2020. Our Talaipalli mines has also started production, while mining operations has also started at Chatti-Bariyatu mine from April 2022. We have produced nearly 14 million metric ton of coal in FY 2022, registering growth of 27% over the financial year 2021. We have achieved highest ever first quarter production of 4.24 million metric ton in the first quarter, registering growth of 61% over the Q1 of the corresponding last year, which was 2.61 million metric ton. Further, we expect to commence production from Kerandari and Badam mines in early FY 2024. Coming to acquisition and various diversification endeavors. Acquisition, diversification, adaptability would be the hallmark of success in the coming times, and we are actively looking for other business opportunities besides our core competence, both domestically as well as globally. We are actively looking for acquisition of power generation as well as distribution assets, which fit into our overall business profile and having good intrinsic value. Our wholly owned subsidiary, NEEPCO, acquired recently, has been allocated large hydro projects totaling to more than 6 gigawatt. NTPC is exploring options to provide round-the-clock RE power to top commercial and industrial customers directly. We are also exploring options for partnering with battery manufacturing and with technology provided for CO2 to methanol chemical projects. Construction activity of thermal power project in Bangladesh is also in an advanced stage of implementation, and we have been appointed as project management consultant for more than 6 gigawatts solar projects in Latin America and Africa. Now focusing on the operational excellence in the last year on the quarter. Our operational capabilities have been proven with an unmatched track record. You can see here. We have been consistently maintaining two digits spread over the national PLF. Our coal station clock PLF of 80.4% against all India PLF of 69.5%. If you discount NTPC from that 69.5, probably to be furthermore. So, the true comparison would be more stacking. In Q1 FY 2023, our group generation posted growth of 22%, showing an uptick in the demand. Our operational efficiency is driven by strong systems, guided by technical compliance documents, best maintenance practices, real-time monitoring systems, 100% analysis of boiler tube failures, daily and monthly review system, periodic structured technical audits, fleet-wide monitoring by experts, et cetera. Again, safety is integral to our working. We have laid emphasis on safety, and we have robust operational standard operating procedures in all places. We have up-scaled safety standard at our power plants and have inculcated complete culture of safety first. We are consistently maintaining status of a low-cost power producer. Our low variable charges ensures high merit order, and as a result, better PLF and efficiency in operations. Around 60% of our plants can be regarded as a pithead plant where the transportation is negligible, so it helps us to reduce the energy charges and the overall basket is also very low. We have elaborate payment security mechanism in place in terms of LC, in terms of power regulation, in terms of tripartite agreement. We continuously take a policy issued with CERC and other authorities, and we have witnessed favorable regulatory dispensation in the form of current regulation for the period 2019-2024. Coming to the long-term fuel security, we have proactively and successfully taken initiatives to pursue fuel security for our current as well as future capacity. We have signed long-term fuel supply agreements with CIL and Singareni Collieries Company Limited for supply of coal for a period of 20 years for total ACQ, Annual Contracted Quantity, of 183 million metric ton per annum. NTPC, through a sustained policy advocacy, has signed a supplementary agreement with aggregation of all annual contracted quantity on CIL subsidiary level, leading to optimum utilization of coal, reduction in ECR, avoidance of loss of fixed charges due to coal shortage, more efficient outage planning stock management power plants. 60% of our coal-based capacity is linked to merry-go-round belt conveyor system to coal. To mitigate the shortage of domestic coal, we awarded contracts for more than 16 million metric ton for procurement of imported coal also, which we would be using sparingly depending on necessity and need. We had total coal supply of 196 million metric ton in FY 2022 and ACQ materialization of 93%. Coal supply for Q1 for current financial year stands at 45.8 million metric ton with ACQ materialization of 101%. From the HR perspective, HR visions, our company has always followed a people first approach towards the employee. We believe in continuous development of our employees through objective and open performance management system. We provide comprehensive training to familiarize our employee with technological advancement and up-to-date operational and management practices. Our key employee performance metrics like sales per employee, value added per employee, profit per employee, man megawatt ratio have consistently improved. NTPC continues to win all round laurels in various fields of operations, quality, HR, CSR, safety, et cetera. NTPC is the only PSU to consistently feature in top 50 best companies to work for in India in annual survey carried out by Great Place to Work Institute and Economic Times. We are proud of building a high trust, high performance culture. Now I turn with all this to the essence of the whole thing, which is the financials. I am happy to share some of the key parameters here. You can see the results on a year-on-year basis. NTPC has been able to maintain sustained revenue growth and robust profit, as would be evident from the slide here. In FY 2022, we have posted highest ever profit of INR 16,111 crores and sales realization which crossed INR 116,000 crores mark. We have begun FY 2023 on a very strong note. For the quarter one, the revenue from operation is INR 38,380 crores as against INR 26,039 crores in the Q1 of last year, registering an increase of 47%, the results which we declared last week. PAT for Q1 is INR 3,676 crores against INR 3,146 crores in last year's Q1, registering an increase of 17%. We are confident of sustaining this growth in our financial with all our growth metrics, projections, projects which we explained. At the consolidated level, we are also witnessing continuous growth. This growth is led by acquisition of value accretive JVs and subsidiaries. Profits from JVs have registered a growth of 49% in FY 2022. At the same time, our consolidated EBITDA has registered double-digit growth to reach INR 42,604 crores in FY 2022. As we move forward, we believe we will sustain this trajectory of growth. Our balance sheet size is also growing bigger and stronger. Financial year 2022, our gross fixed assets has increased by INR 26,836 crores while CWIP has decreased. This is what I was talking about, turnover of CWIP to fixed assets. The moment a capitalization happens, you get entitled for a regulated equity return on equity at 15.5%, but it adds to the profitability. This trend is expected to continue with around 5 gigawatt addition to our commercial capacity every year now on. We are raising debt at most competitive rates from the market, and our cost of debt has reduced progressively from 8.07% in financial 2015 to 5.94% in the financial year 2022 with various strategies of blending our basket of borrowings, being very nimble, opportunistic in the financial environment. On the back of this strong financial, NTPC has been consistently paying dividends over the last 29 years. We have clear dividend policy of balancing dividend payouts with deployment for growth also. We are committed to deliver sustainable value to all our stakeholders. All the above make NTPC a compelling avenue for long-term investments. With this, I conclude my presentation. Thank you one and all. Thank you to you, sir. Sir, we can take the questions now. We can open the house. Yeah, sure. Yeah, please. So- One question at a time. What we should follow, one from this side, one from this side. Okay. Mic Four sectors. One, two, three, four. Okay. Yes. Okay. The first one. Okay, let us go ahead. Just give me the mic. Yes. Good evening, sir. Congratulations on good set of numbers. What? First- Am I audible? Microphone, please. Hi. Am I audible now? Try out. Am I audible now? Yes. If you can take it a little closer to yourself, probably it will be much more Okay. Congratulations on a good set of numbers for the quarter. My first question is on the fact that the government has allowed the coal-based power plant to supply renewables in place of costly. The government has allowed Yes to supply renewable in lieu of coal-based capacity where the variable cost will be high. We believe that this coal is a very large opportunity. As far as the government is concerned, I think they have quoted a number of 20 GW. This is not a new policy. This policy was there, I think it was somewhere in 2017, 2018, I think they announced. Does it make your pipeline, renewable pipeline, increase from 8 GW currently to 25 GW? And expect this 17 GW to be get commissioned in next 3 to 4 years? Or do you think we need to tone down this expectation and the number which we are looking may be a slightly lower number? Okay. First of all, this policy, I think we are thankful to the ministry that this discussion was from our side. This was almost in 2018. That time itself, the policy decision was taken, but somehow it has taken a long time to get implemented. The policy, what it says is, it's not that if it is only this costly power. The idea was that how we can get rid of the new PPAs and still go for the more addition of renewables and reduce reliance on the coal, even on the existing power stations. This was, we had discussed in 2018, we presented to the ministry, and from there on, I think this is now the reality. All of you know that there is a renewable prices are coming down, coal prices is going up. Theoretically, you can see that most of the plants, means pithead plants today are much cheaper. The coal cost is much cheaper than the renewable. Otherwise, those plants which are distantly located, let's say around 500 kilometer and more, there the cost of the coal is higher than the renewable energy prices. This was primarily for solar, but it's called as a renewable energy, so we will be looking at how we can really blend with the renewable energy also. Not with the wind also. This provides us a great opportunity to ramp up our renewable energy and where we don't require the new power purchase agreements. The way to look at it is, we are finding a solution, and we are trying to reduce for the new PPAs, at the same time, we are reducing the cost of power to the consumers. It's a really win-win situation, and now this is a reality, and we should be not only what you are saying, what you just elaborated. We will have the capacity of around 60 gigawatt plus from the coal side in the next 2 years. Ideally, at some point of time, you can assume that at least 30,000 megawatts is going to be non-pit head, and that much renewable energy we can blend with this. That is the incremental additional capacity we can create. When we are seeing 60 gigawatt by 2032, this is not going to be much of an issue for us. By the way, there is a natural hedge that the ISTS, which was free for the renewable energy plant. Now there is a GNA which has come. This is on the basis of the payment is based on the drawl of the power. I think the policies are getting aligned so that we are in a position to really ramp up our renewable also along with the coal-based. I hope that whatever you are saying, 23,000 megawatts or something, it can be much more than that. My question was, particularly this policy, under this policy, can we expect around 15, 16 gigawatt capacity addition? Under this policy, flexible Why you want to say under this policy? Because- It is not equivalent. The policy does not say that if your power plant is going to be put, whether it is under this policy or it is under that policy. Sir, you don't require any PPA, you don't need to compete with. That's what I said. Even 30,000 megawatt, not even 15. So answer is yes. Thank you. More than that, what you are saying. Yes, please. Yes, sir. I think this side, if there is any. We agreed on this principle one by one. No one from this side? All the questions are from this side. Okay, go ahead. Yes, sir. Okay, somebody has really the interest. Go ahead, mic. Hi, sir. This is Apoorva Bahadur from Investec. Sir, you highlighted that we are also entering into this C&I market, essentially the green open access and supplying round the clock renewable power. I wanted to understand what type of return profile we have over here. Secondly, also for round the clock renewable power, what are the types of storage solutions we intend to implement? Yes. This is a general question which everybody is trying to find a solution. As of now, our renewable energy company called NGEL or NREL, which Mr. Mohit is the CEO. I would encourage all of you after this question answer, you can just ask him as many questions as you want. Maybe now also, not a problem. The returns on the C&I consumers, as of today, you can expect that even either comparable or maybe even higher than that. Some of the C&I consumers are also requesting us that whether they can pick up 26% equity, and then we can, through that measure, the non-fossil or the renewable energy can be there. We are trying to find some of the hydro capacity which is untied, so there can be some kind of good blend with the solar or wind. And going forward, you would have already seen that we have come out with the bids for 3 GW, another, I think, 5 MW kind of storage capacity. Whether it is pumped hydro, whether it is going to be battery, whether it is going to be hydrogen, I think this is the work which is in progress. Battery storage was considered to be the most preferred about 2 to 3 years back. Today, I think it looks like that pumped hydro will make a much better sense, and then we will see that how we can blend the energy, not only renewable energy, but also the storage itself, but also with the hydro power. You want to add anything? It can also be through some virtual PPA, whereby it will be through procurement of renewable energy certificate, and then considering that route is going to be published very shortly. I think through that also, we will be trying. We may not require that storage immediately. Yes, sir. Sir, if I may ask one more question, and this is on the conventional business. You said that the demand has picked up and we are seeing a demand-supply mismatch. I think on last call, you highlighted that around 6 GW of new brownfield capacity expansion we can do. Sir, what's the progress on that, beyond Alstert? And also, beyond this 6 GW, how much more can we add on a brownfield basis? Yeah. I think let me try to take this question here itself. There will be many more questions around this point. What we had said about 3 years or more than 4 years, that we are not going to acquire fresh new land funding. We never said that we are not going to add any capacity. I think that's what. Let me clarify, if there is somebody having some other impression on that. Talcher, we are very close. We have already opened the bids. We are ready to put the order. There is a PPA which has to come from Odisha side, which is just a formality, which should happen very soon. As was explained by Director Finance that as a responsible corporate, we make sure that these 5 things are available before we really take the investment decision. That is about Talcher. It is going to be 2 into 660 megawatts. Beyond that, there is a Lara, Singrauli, and literally, if you are just going through that, all of our power stations, and specifically the older power stations, we have space in those power stations. Easily we can add kind of 2 into 660 or 2 into 800, depending on the configuration, what we decide in almost all the pithead power stations. Almost. May not be every one, but most of them. Over and above that, we have a huge setup for the townships. If there is a requirement, we can try to redesign our township and create a space for that. You can just take it very easily that if there is a requirement of, let us say, we have to go for 10,000 megawatts, we can go for that. If it is 20,000, we can still then go for 20,000. I think there was a calculation which was saying that it can be somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000 megawatts. I think, let me address that question also, that most of the private sector will find it extremely difficult to do the financial closure for the coal-based power stations. Okay. If there is a requirement, and this looks like there is a requirement, because as the power demand is going up, we will have to add sizable capacity in the coal-based power stations. Unless the nuclear power stations can be commissioned much faster, which we are also looking at. At present, our Director Project will explain you that he has already constituted a team. He's discussing with the NPCIL and BARC. The important part is that I think apart from the state GENCOs, I'm not sure that how many state GENCOs will also be able to really mobilize funds to go for the new plants. From all sides, we are trying to say that it is not only renewable, it's not only coal side, it's not only hydro, it's the renewables. You can just think of that as the power generation. I think we are there, and we are in probably the best of the position to leverage on that. Rest assured that whatever is required, we will do. But at the same time, we will be very responsible. The question which was coming in the beginning, we will try to see that how we can minimize our emissions, how we can be really more compliant with the ESG side. But at the same time, at the core of the discussion every time, we are mindful that we are responsible for providing affordable and reliable power to each and every citizen. Okay? As we keep our market share or we really improve our market share, so will be the profitability and the overall profit and the dividend distribution. Please. Sir, can you give some more color on your solar power emission? You said 32 GW by 2030 or 30- 32 GW? Sorry, say again. Sorry. Can you give more color on your solar power emission? Like many players have large capacity and we already have only limited capacity. Can you give more color on what are you trying to achieve with solar? Okay. Many private players are going too much deeper into value chain. Are we only going into generation, or are we thinking something more also? Very good. As I said sometime back, you can have more and more discussions on this. As NGEL, we are just coming out also, but let me, I think, go back a little bit. When there was a fall in prices, we were quite mindful that we were not very aggressive at that point of time to put the new capacities on the solar and the wind. Now, when there is a kind of some certainty has started coming, we have become quite aggressive, and you will be knowing that in the last 2 years, we have started participating into the competitive bids. We are winning, I think, most of the bids where we are participating. As of today, what you are saying that we have a limited capacity and there are some more players who have gone far ahead. You would have also been observing that there are some players which are getting out, and there are many players who are not really showing any interest for the putting because as for them, whatever their calculation of the falling prices they were betting on, probably they are moving out of these things. But we, as a power generator responsible generation company, we will make sure that we implement that to the best of the quality, timing, and the commercial returns on that. Our aim is to put and go for the renewable energy paths. As I just mentioned, Khavda, we have started the work on that. This is 4,750 megawatts. We have only signed the MoU with Rajasthan for 10 gigawatts. These kinds of these plants, and then I just mentioned about our floating solar. We have now JV with rather, MoU with DVC. To all their reservoirs, we will be having floating solar. In addition to that, we are looking at the wind. There are some locations which we have identified. Along with that, not only the solar parks, but these can be done on the wind side also. This is not something which the task of adding 60 gigawatts what we have put up as of today for 2032. We should be in a position to exceed that rather than only then striving to really touch that 60 gigawatts. About the other related issues, I think you would have also gone through some of our press releases or some of the news items that we are very keenly working on the hydrogen side and the green ammonia side. Khavda is going to be utilized in the multipurpose, and the other locations also. In Leh, as I just mentioned, this is the first project which we are just putting that there will be a solar plant, there will be green hydrogen, and the mobility services through that. This is not going to be limited to only power purchase agreements and then these fixed returns. We are quite mindful that in some cases, we can make much higher returns going through these things rather than tying up for the 25 years with the returns of, let us say, very low double-digit level. It's not something which is only one item which we are looking at that we have to have the power purchase agreement for the renewables. This is what the five things what we just explained, this was mainly for the conventional sources, whether it's hydro or whether it's going to be coal-based plants. For that, the PPA is necessary. But for the renewable, we are relooking our strategy, and we believe that we can make much higher returns by going for some time merchant or then maybe going for the C&I consumers or going for storage solutions or going for the another related solutions like mobility or the green ammonia, et cetera. My next question is related to green hydrogen. What is the cost per kg you are targeting for the green hydrogen cost per- Cost per kg, I think there are many figures which are running around. I think people are targeting that we should be having the USD 1 per kg in the next three, four, five years. We are not the technologies and these developers. Let me, I think, confess that we are the people who are going to implement and apply the technologies which are coming. But in our NETRA, I think this is the experiment which is going on, which is somewhere between USD 2 to USD 3 as of now it is coming. But as we go along, I think more and more electrolyzers and there is some breakthrough into those things. I think there should be a much below that. As of now, I think if you want me to give some exact figure, it will not be possible. In fact, then nobody knows how exactly it will go. In our Indian context, we should not be only talking about the dollar. At the end, we should be translating into rupees because that is what is going to decide for us more than anything else. You want to add anything there, Mr. Bhattacharya? No, sir. You have generally added everything. As you have rightly said, it's a national technology. It's emerging. Even in U.S.A., the cost of generation of hydrogen is going $6 plus, and they are trying to bring it below $3. If you ask our target, as CMD has already told, the dream target is below $2 and ultimately going to $1. We in NETRA are experimenting, and he has rightly given you the numbers that it will be of the around the $4 as of now. The main issue is the electricity intensity and the electrolyzer. So development of electrolyzer as well as the electricity intensity reduction, we are working in NETRA, and we are hopeful that we will come out with a better solution soon. Thank you. Mohit, you want to add anything or? Fine. Yeah. You can speak- Only one person at a time. Yeah. I'm Sumit Kishore from Axis Capital. My compliments to Team NTPC for starting this analyst meet again. You're one of the first ones to actually do that in the power sector. My first question is, you mentioned in your opening remarks that energy security is taking precedence over energy transition right now. But could you speak about the longevity of thermal cash flows? Your target of 130 GW by 2032 entails that if your target for renewables is 60, you're still talking about thermal being somewhere around 70 odd GW. We know that last 15 years, India has seen about 5.5% CAGR of electricity supply growth. Let us assume that remains the norm, or we will see a slightly better number. The question is that at what point does the energy transition require NTPC and the country to step down the overall base of coal installed capacity? India has a target of 2070 in terms of net zero. Would you say that NTPC, which has a fleet, which started sometime in 1982, 1983, they are 25-year PPAs. A, beyond the 25-year PPA, does the PPA just get rolled over? When do we see NTPC's coal-based capacities coming off? If I want to make a curve for the next 30, 40 years for NTPC's thermal capacity, when do we start approaching zero? Good. I think many people are struggling to find a solution for this. As of today, I think you can take with the whole kind of facts and figures and very comfortably. Even our Talcher plants, which we are going to award this month or next, that will complete its at least 30 years, if not more. My personal take and my suggestion to the ministry always has been that we should not retire any of the 200 MW units and above, and we should try to make these flexibles. By the way, just for information of all of you, a generator with less capacity utilization will be able to make more money than when he is making today with the higher utilization factor. I think this you have to keep in mind. Don't get surprised if there will be some plants which will be running only for two, three months. At the end, the returns from those plants will be higher than what they are making today when they are operating round the year. This is not only for us, I think this is already happening in the western part of the world anyway. In that case, it's every likelihood that our tariff structure what is today, will not remain same. There may be opportunity costs for many. As you rightly mentioned that our Singrauli and the other plants which have already completed now 40 years. I mentioned to you that the 100% PLF units. Our O&M team has invested well in those 10 plants, and they are still in a position to operate at the base load capacity around the clock and otherwise. What we will have to do is take some kind of steps that we will have to make a little more flexible. We may have to do further start and stop, and don't get surprised that we may have to really resort to two shifting in some of the plants. But then for every tweaking, every changes, there should be a commercial incentive to do that. What I'm trying to convey to you very clearly that in a foreseeable future, no plant is going to become redundant, and this will, in all probability, will be earning higher returns than what they are doing today. The last year's power surge and the power kind of unavailability for some time in some parts of the country has really given this message and learning to the most of the people who are managing the sector and what is required. These, we don't call it the old assets. These are really our very sturdy assets. Whatever it takes, we as a company, it's our responsibility as the leading power company that we will be able to operate these coal-based assets as per the requirement of the grid. The main emphasis from our side is how we can increase our renewable capacity without getting into a situation where for some part of the months or some part of the days, the power is not available. There is a coexistence for the coal-based, there is a coexistence for the renewables. If there is a utilization factor is less, I think the gentleman just asked about that, the policy, what we had been working, and we are thankful to the Ministry, they said. If during the day we can reduce to 55%, it's further. The overall emissions come down, overall cost come down. The transition also happens. The investment into renewable also comes and all things together. That is part two of my question. Yeah. Which is related to what you just said. In terms of the flexibilization of the grid, right now share of renewables is 11%-12% of the total power supply. But if we get even close to 450 GW that the Government of India is suggesting till 2030, the share of renewables in daily power generation will be more than 34%-35%. At a point of time in the day, it will be more than 60%-65%. The technical minimum also laid down by CEA may not be enough. And the ramp up, ramp down rates that you have- What I told you just now some time back, that we may have to go for two shifting. We may have to close down the coal-based plants in the morning and maybe restart in the evening. Is it technically possible? Yes, it is possible. Let's hear the director. Can you also comment on the ramp up, ramp down rates, which our understanding is about 1.5% per minute or so. I just told you that these things will end up in making more money from these assets. Even right now, only NTPC is actually coming to technical minimum. That is 52%. Many of the state GENCOs are not coming to 50% technical minimum. Even if all the GENCOs come down, we have another 30 to 32 gigawatts there. CEA has already started a study. In fact, we have done pilot studies at six of the plants with NTPC and state DVC, where you can actually get down the technical minimum to 40%. That is the next step. As our CMD has said, two shifting is not a new concept. It has already been done in the West, that easily it can be done. But I don't see any immediate possibility of that. The demand is very high. We have generated more than 20% in the last four months compared to last year. On a daily basis, we are generating 200 million units more. The demand is very high. I don't think in the immediate future we will have to go to such an extent of backing down. Thank you so much. See, it is not necessary to know how the plane really works. Just you enjoy the benefit of the flight. I think the rest you leave it to the technical people and the commercial and in general, I think the power companies. Do not worry on load side. There are people who have really devoted their life towards these things, and they will keep doing something which is- This is very reassuring. Thank you for that. Thank you, sir. Thanks. Just to add, as you know, the renewable power is not going to be anti of conventional power. Going ahead, it would be more of a symbiotic relationship given the demand curves and other things. There will be a lot of mix and match strategies to do that. That will ensure that the load curve and, of course it will come with some amount of ramp up, ramp down, the technicalities of that, some commercial aspect associated with that. But in an overall optimization, some of the pluses and minuses will have to be absorbed because ultimately we give a low value to the end consumers. You people know that this airplane is also, there is something called gas turbine. They take off, they land, they stop, and they start. Somebody may be saying that, yes, that is true for the gas turbine, but not for coal-based ones. This is what we have been telling till now. Okay. Maybe there is a time when we will have to start or we have already started looking at that, how to really make a kind of suitable towards that requirement. That may require some investment, that may require some kind of additional expenditure, and that's the reason I said, if you are providing that kind of more than ancillary services, there should be some incentive for it. You people also should start looking at those companies which will be ready for those things. Yes. This is Rohit here. My first question is on the NTPC Green Energy. We were talking about the asset monetization part. What stage are we in? Is it going to be a strategic partner in that, or will it be a financial partner? What will be the role, and how do you see that part? When do you expect that to materialize, that asset monetization part? Yeah. This is as the part of the larger monetization strategy. The process is already on. We have got some kind of expression of interest from eight, nine kind of companies. We have to complete this in this financial year anyway. Just to follow up on that, sir, the stake sale, what percentage would it be the regulator prescribing you to do the stake sale? I'm not prescribing anything as of today. This is not necessary that we have to go only for 5% or 10% or 50% or 20%, anything. Automatically. What we will have to evaluate that what brings more value to the company and how we will be able to really grow. I think as we said that we have the growth plans for this renewable. And this is the vehicle which is going to be utilized for the growth plan. Not only for today, but we will have to see that what is going to be strategic fit for the rapid expansion and the growth area in this. I think then by the time we will be meeting next year, there will be many more things, more developments should have happened. Sure. Financially, it has to happen. Sure. Sir, my second question is more to do with the follow-up of what you said in some comments on levelized cost of storage for battery, which was probably 2 to 3 years before it was attractive, but now pumped hydro seems to be much more attractive. That was a comment by WE Collect. If you could touch on what is the RE generation cost plus LCOS for your battery storage, in comparison to say, let's assume a pumped hydro storage, what is the peaking tariff that you see? Again, I think there is no definitive answer for that, and that is the reason I refrained from making some numbers on this. We all know that mostly the battery rates are in the dollar per kilowatt-hours and dollar-rupee exchange is fluctuating. As the demand is going up, like the solar modules, I think the prices what were coming down, I am not sure whether they have really then started then moving upwards kind of thing. All of you will be knowing that these critical minerals, there is some kind of what I should say? That some people have really grabbed those, how it will be really turning out to be. And the pumped hydro is something which is not for 10 years or 15 years. I think the life of the pumped hydro can be as high as 50, 60, 100 years. I think that kind of things. Maybe some renovation, et cetera, will be required. So you can't really take the cost of the only for about how you evaluate it's 2 years, 1 year, 3 years. So it's a very long lasting years, and once it is constructed, then it's very environment-friendly. In the battery, there will be even the disposal things which will be required. And then the hydrogen, there is lot of work which is going on, and if the hydrogen and the fuel cell, I think this is going to be really, I think then the cost comes down. Who knows that which will take off. But we should not be just writing off the battery. No one can write off the battery. I think that's quite clear. In fact, we will also be looking at, I was in Sydney and Melbourne about 2 weeks back, along with the honorable minister in the minister's conference, the Sydney Energy Forum. And there is a lot of emphasis on this sourcing the lithium and the other critical minerals. Maybe that we will also have to look at some kind of those smaller mines in future. I am not saying that battery is bad. The question is that which one is going to win as of today we are. If I can give you another kind of analogy, in 2009, 2008, 2009, 2010, everybody was just trying to calculate that with solar thermal is better or PV is better, and there is the PV also, there was a crystalline and the thin film. I don't know how many people have, or few have really gone. People were debating the thin film is better or this. I think in the next 3, 4 years, it was quite clear that crystalline has really, this is overtook everybody else. Today, nobody's talking about solar thermal and thin film. Sure. All right. Thank you, sir. On the battery, sir, I would like to add one more thing that as CMD rightly said, don't write off battery. Battery will have different kind of application in any case. See, in case of grid fluctuation, you need instant supply to the grid. The best equipment to provide that is the spinning the kinetic inertia. That will come from some of the existing coal-fired power station generators will be used as synchronous condenser like that. Next best will be the instant energy to the grid by battery. Before the hydro starts even, or another power plant comes, or somebody was talking of the damping rate. Those are the times when these will be coming. But then the battery in terms of megawatt hour may not be as big. Right? That will depend on the C ratio and other thing, charging ratio, et cetera. Yeah. That side. I think there was someone. Yes, please. As per CEA estimates, I think there is a requirement of about 27 gigawatt and 108 gigawatt hours requirement of battery per year. So 27 gigawatt for 4 hours. That's what by 2030, I think. Yeah. I'm Yogesh here, sir. Thank you for explaining the human debt law. I don't think it's battery, it's a storage capacity. Storage capacity. Yeah, sir. Yeah. Yogesh here, sir. That gentleman. Yes, please. Yeah. Thank you for this elaborate presentation. Sir, I want to ask, as a part of our power trading business Yeah Indian Energy Exchange and all, which are coming up. How are we placed out there? What is the unit that we are, at what rate we are trying to sell out, or are we planning something new in this field? You are asking about the exchange? Yes. Do you also have our power trading as a services, right, sir? Yeah, we have the power trading in a company, and they also trade on the exchange. Yeah. Okay. As far as exchange is concerned, this is governed by the regulations from, again, from CERC. Okay. Incidentally, let me, I think, add that we have picked up 5% equity into PXIL. Okay. We believe that one exchange is not sufficient. There should be competition in that also. Right. Maybe, going forward, there may be another. The third exchange is also coming up. The important thing in that case is that coupling is required for all the three exchanges, which is not as of today. But this trading is bilateral also and through the exchange also. It is all kind of trading. There is a long-term contract, there is short-term contracts, there is exchange based. Now, I think there is even GDAM and TAM and all kind of, I think as we go forward, there will be more and more market instruments will be available, and our team is again gearing up to take care of those things. We will be, I think, the last one then what we were summarizing, we will not only remain as a power generating company, but we intend to become the integrated energy utility going forward. It all depends that when we will be able to achieve, maybe in 4 years, 5 years, 6 years, but I think by 2030, that is what our target is, that we should not be only in the power generation, but there will be many more services we should be having that. Those would be go on increasing our margins and, I think the bottom line. Otherwise, there is no use of only generating for the sake of getting into those things. Thank you. Any other question? Sir, Amit here from Morgan Stanley. Sir, I have, oh, yeah. Okay. Amit here from Morgan Stanley. I had a question on the release that Ministry of Power had put out on this overdue receivables. They had put out a release in the early June or last week of May that those would not be escalated further and 48 EMIs would be allowed to repay that. We had overdues of around INR 4,200 crores in March, and now I think it is around INR 6,000 crores. What is the position for us? Are we going to lose out much on the surcharge rate, and how would it affect our cash flows going forward on those parts? Okay. Dikom sir, you want to go ahead with that? Yeah. Ministry of Power has brought out that LPS rule very recently, where some of the state, particularly J&K mainly, there was outstanding dues, which is basically will be paid in installment. You are right that we will not be able to. There will be no further LPS on that amount. Only thing that there is a clause in that also that if it defaults in making any payment in any month, then that LPS will be applicable on the entire amount. Yes, theoretically it is right that we may not be earning LPS on that amount, but practically, that J&K, we don't think that they will be able to ever make the payment, unless otherwise really there is some grant or something is available from the Government of India. So that way, right now it is there. That amount will be paid in installment. But we are waiting still, we are waiting that what happens to J&K. If they are able to make it, is fine, otherwise, LPS will be applicable for even J&K also. Right. Any broad breakup of which are the other largest states in the finance? No, I think as Dikom is just mentioning. As far as we are concerned, we just mentioned that we had been able to collect our 100% bill. Okay. But there is mainly this one consumer, which is J&K, that is a huge bill. The other one is very, very small. I think there are another two which is very small. But if you consider that our size and all our overdues, this is to a very small extent. Our billing is nowadays more than around INR 12,000 crore per month. And our overdue is, let us say, what you said about- INR 4,000, INR 5,000. It changes every day. So let's not get into that number. It changes on a day-to-day basis. So this is almost standard equivalent. The loss in this case at the most will be that we will be not getting the LPS for this 48 months on this INR 4,000. This is the worst scenario. Correct, sir. Yeah. Got that. Yeah, that's okay. Sir, another thing just I wanted to understand is, you had earlier spoken about venturing into distribution business, et cetera. Any progress on that front, the distribution business? Yeah, we are keenly observing that and as you all know that we had participated in Chandigarh, and we had put a very serious bid. Incidentally, we came on third number. The highest was CESC, the second was Torrent, and then we. It's not only that, there were only three participants. There were, I think, six or seven participants. We had put up a very serious bid. As and when the new things are coming, definitely we are gearing up for that. Right, sir. Thank you. Sir, we will take one last question, sir. Let us go for the both of them. I think this side has been really, I think it is. Yes. Sir, I have a follow-up question in general about the receivables. I believe the days receivable have been gradually rising. Is there a change in policy or is there a possibility of bringing them down? Is it? Yeah, my understanding is that currently it's more than 60 days receivables. Is it correct or not? No, whose receivable? NTPC? Yes. What is the current figure, sir? No. I think you have to recheck. I think you have to check it. As we were telling earlier that around INR 5,000 crore roughly, that will be paid in installment over a period. That primarily it is around INR 4,000 crore of J&K. Otherwise, there is no outstanding at all. If you remove those INR 5,000 crore- Other, it is a- What is the average days receivable? What is the credit period? Right now, it is only INR 1,000 crore, which is to be paid beyond due date. What is the average credit period extended? It is 45 days, that is as per the regulation. Okay. For which it is included that carrying cost is included in the tariff, so we get back that money. We must compliment the Director Commercial and his team, that despite of all this, whatever the interests, et cetera, which we are having, they have been able to collect 100% bills year after year. The only exception was 2020, when there was a on 24 because of the lockdown. We were trying for that year also because in the last week of March, we get substantial amount. Otherwise, I think it has been 15, 16 years, every year there is 100%. And now the people talk about competency of some other sector, not the PSUs. You can guess then what is happening there. Sir, thank you for that, and it's very commendable if the figure is such a low figure, in terms of defaults and all, and the receivable is within the norms. My second question was that my understanding is that most of the solar panel suppliers, more than 90%, are Chinese suppliers. And many of those companies are bankrupt or at least financially not stable. As we go forward and we want to expand our solar capacity, what is your sourcing strategy for solar panels? I think this requires a lot of deliberations on that. But as a PSU, we have to comply with many of the guidelines which have been issued. But more or less, we will be relying on the domestically manufactured modules going forward, as I said. You can have the detailed discussions who are interested for the renewables. The CEO of our renewable energy company just after this. But if you are saying that they have gone bankrupt, then there is every reason that there will be lot, many manufacturer will come in India, and which is going on. The work is in the progressive use. How many people are there, Mohit, at present who are getting this manufacturing to be Four have already got approval. Yes. There is going to be a substantial capacity which is being developed within India also. Again, if there is a huge demand and if there is a gap, then there is a perfect recipe for the people to get into that and then try to really develop the capacity in those areas. But we are not going to get into manufacturing. As of today, we have taken that decision. If you are asking that question. Please, last question. Yes, sir. Yes, please. Go ahead. Sir, I'm Samay Sapnesh from Sharekhan. Just want a few numbers from your side. Firstly, what are the CapEx incurred in Q1 and the regulated equity base at the end of Q1? Very good. Go ahead. Regulated equity at the end of Q1. Regulated, I think in the presentation itself it was there. Standalone NTPC regulated equity is INR 70,000 crore. Sir, that was at end of FY 2022, if I'm not wrong. I wanted the end of Q1, FY 2023. Q1 No, I think it is- This year? We are not commissioned anything this year. This year, it is the same INR 70,000 crores. We are not commissioned this year. We are not commissioned anything this year. And the CapEx incurred in Q1? CapEx, any data you have? CapEx we have incurred, our target is 23,000, and we have done 33%, that is roughly INR 7,100 crores so far. 31st of- How much percent, sorry? 33% of our annual CapEx. How much of commercial capacity addition will come in FY 2023? Out of that, how much is the renewable energy capacity addition for FY 2023? See, this year, NTPC as a whole, we are 5,806 will be our capacity addition this year. Out of this, 1,526 is solar, rest is coal. In Q1, what are the profits from those subsidiaries? Profit from subsidiary in Q1. Subsidiary in Q1. Subsidiary profit. Sanjeev, do you have it? See, for Q1 the profits from subsidiaries is INR 526.83. And the share of profit of joint ventures is INR 266.49, which I have already said the percentage wise over the corresponding quarter, which I already indicated. The absolute figure is 526.83 and 266.49. Last year, sir. What was the figure last year? Last year's figure- Last year Q1 figure It's 395 and 202.40 respectively. Could you give me the figure for the fuel cost under-recovery in Q1? Fuel cost under-recovery. The- You want to have fuel cost under-recovery. AFC is different from fuel cost under-recovery. You are asking the marginal cost. Yeah. Fuel cost. Fixed charges under-recovery. There is no fuel cost under-recovery. Fixed cost. Fixed cost around 500 crores, I think. Around 500 crores. That will be expected around INR 124 billion. You will be knowing that how it works. The target availability is annualized basis. If you have taken the outage in the first quarter, then there will be an under-recovery in that quarter. Right. If you are able to make up the energy coming the rest of the year, then it is you are able to recover that. The under-recovery is truly as energy figure should be on an annualized basis rather than the month-to-month basis. That's what. Okay. But we had one or two issues in the machines, in Sipat and in the case of Darlipali. We had the two major, I think, events where there has been some under-recovery rather most of the under-recovery had been due to those two power houses and two units. Okay, sir. And your deputy adjustments to come from the reported tax figure to the adjusted tax. Could you give me those adjustments? Say again, I think this gentleman just starting. Please. In previous concalls, you will give the adjustments to come from the reported tax figure to the adjusted tax figure. What are those adjustments? See, if our reported profit is INR 3,620 crores. Our previous year sales is the figure of INR 384 crores. Sir, we cannot hear you. I cannot hear him. Reported profit is INR 3,620 crores. Previous year sales figure is INR 384 crores. After factoring the tax impact on the above adjustments, the adjusted profit is INR 3,359 crores. Thank you. That is it from my side. I think we can close now. I thank you all the investors and analysts who have been here and supporting NTPC for years together. I will request them to join for the tea with us. Whatever questions you have, you can discuss with us.

Data Source: Quartr Last updated: Aug 1, 2022

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