NTPC shares jumped over 2 per cent in the morning trade on Tuesday after Citi upgraded NTPC to ‘buy’, citing capacity additions, improving and assured return on equity, low valuations and no regulatory uncertainty till FY19. Earlier, Citi group had ‘neutral’ rating on NTPC stocks.

At 10.45 am, NTPC was trading 2.35 per cent higher at Rs 115.30. It opened at Rs 113 and had touched a high and low of Rs 116 and Rs 113, respectively, in trade so far. Sensex was up 0.14 per cent at 24,929.

NTPC is examining whether to acquire the Sarni thermal power station of a state government company, in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district. NTPC sources said 'due-diligence' is on.

A state government source said, “NTPC already has presence in Madhya Pradesh, as they run one of the largest thermal power stations, the Vindhyachal project. It would be better to hand over the Sarni project to them or run it as a joint venture. Much will depend upon their due-diligence. SBI Caps is doing it.” NTPC would not comment.

A tripartite agreement between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Union government and the state governments, which provided comfort to power producers against payment defaults by state electricity boards (SEBs), will lapse in October 2016 and there is no certainty that a replacement would be ready in time.

Under the existing agreement, any state defaulting on dues owed to power companies risks a deduction from its annual transfers; so far this clause has not been invoked as the threat of a deduction has ensured timely payments by SEBs, which are weighed down by $3 trillion in accumulated losses.

Shares of power generation companies are trading at multi-year lows on the bourses.

Reliance Power (Rs 33) and Adani Power (Rs 20) are trading at lifetime lows, while state-owned power major NTPC is quoting at Rs 107, its lowest level since July 2006.

Shares of Tata Motors have fallen to 18-month lows of Rs 328 after declining nearly 6% in the past two trading sessions, bringing down its market capitalisation (market-cap) below Rs 1 lakh crore on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

At 12:24 AM, the stock was trading at Rs 331, its lowest level since February 2014 in intra-day trades.

State-owned NTPC today said its tax-free bonds have been oversubscribed 7.25 times.

"Tax Free bonds of NTPC Ltd gets stupendous response... The issue got an overwhelming response and was oversubscribed by 7.25 times across the different tenures," the company said in a statement.

KOLKATA: NTPC has invited global bids for its 100 mw (10x10 mw) solar capacity project in Uttar Pradesh under the National Solar Mission, a project that equipment supplier has been eyeing since March.

In UP, the state government has joined hands with NTPC to develop a 375 mw solar power park in Jalon district at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore. The state government plans to hand over about 750 hectares to NTPC on a nominal rent for developing the solar park in a phased manner.

Environmental public hearing by Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) on NTPC's 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant began amid protests by project-affected people at Pudimadaka, about 60 km from Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

District Collector N. Yuvaraj noted down proceedings amid heavy rain and unprecedented security. The public hearing was held at project site after a spokesman of Hyderabad-based Vimta Labs, which conducted the EIA study, gave details on pollution control measures.

NTPC Ltd is exploring options to manufacture solar equipment as part of the state-owned power producer’s strategy to be present across the green energy value chain.

To start with, India’s largest power generator is evaluating a plan to set up a 1,000-megawatt (MW) per annum manufacturing capacity, which may require an investment of Rs.5,000 crore.

Tata Power with the present installed capacity of 8,750 MW has launched an evaluation for the acquisition of stressed power projects in the country. Company's move comes close on the heels of similar exercise launched by the state-run NTPC and JSW Energy.

The company in its annual report for the fiscal 2014-15 said: ''Due to the current financial stress in the power sector in India, there are assets which may be available for acquisition. The company is evaluating and will continue to evaluate opportunities to acquire projects in various stages of development across the country. These acquisitions, if they materialise, will leverage our existing businesses in the power value chain.'' However, the company has not divulged further details with regard to brown field investment.

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