Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has found 22 public sector firms including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India, and Indian Oil Corporation to have violated various capital-market guidelines.

Meanwhile the State Bank of India has filed for the settlement of a case against it to the regulator, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Reiterating that revival of the beleaguered Dabhol was on the cards, NTPC today said all possible options are being explored for the same.

Dabhol will be revived. How can we afford in a country like ours to leave one project to get killed by itself. Many options are being considered and it has to be revived, NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury told reporters here.

NTPC Ltd, a maharatna PSU, that is in the course of implementing two super thermal power plants in Odisha, has now decided to commit investments in solar energy sector in the state.

“The state government has suggested to us that we should invest in solar power and we are okay with the proposal. Nationwide, NTPC has been mandated to generate 3,000 Mw solar power,” said NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhury after meeting chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The country’s largest power producer, NTPC Ltd has evinced interest to develop the 2,400 Mw coal-based power station proposed at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district through the joint venture (JV) route.

NTPC’s chairman and managing director, Arup Roy Choudhury today called on chief minister Naveen Patnaik and presented the proposal to the latter. But it is not clear the percentage of stake NTPC would have in the JV company.

The government has sought a report from the Coal Controller on delay in mining by NTPC from a Jharkhand mine which was alloted to the PSU about a decade ago.

The Coal Ministry has asked the Controller to inquire into non-mining of coal by NTPC on the basis of a complaint received from Bhu Visthapit Jagran Samiti, an association of villagers of Pakri Barwadih in Jharkhand.

New Delhi: The acquisition plans of India’s largest power generator NTPC Ltd may not help stranded power plants and financial institutions much, with the state-owned company scaling down its target and demanding that promoters and banks take haircuts.

We expect to acquire around 3,500 megawatts (MW) by March 2015, provided a substantial haircut is taken by the promoters and the banks. The due diligence is on for around seven or eight assets, said Arup Roy Choudhury, chairman and managing director of NTPC.

NTPC, the country's largest thermal power producer, witnessed a growth in the gross generation for the first half of 2014-15 to 118.5 billion units while the profit declined by 16 per cent for Q2FY15 owing to changes in rate regulations.

For Q2 FY15, the unaudited profit after tax was Rs 2,071.63 crore as against Rs 2,492.90 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty on Friday hit a new high for the second consecutive day on hopes that further reforms by the government may attract more investment from foreign as well as domestic institutional investors. This is the fourth consecutive day of gains for the benchmark indices.

Investors also think that reforms will help narrow fiscal deficit.

NEW DELHI: All private companies have walked out of the bidding process for two ultra-mega power projects in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, leaving state-run generation utility NTPC as the sole contender for the plants entailing an investment of about Rs 50,000 crore.

Adani Power, Jindal Power, Sterlite and GMR have written to PFC Consulting, the agency advising the government on the projects, saying they were pulling out of the bidding process due to terms to be too stringent for viability.

As Madhya Pradesh hopes to generate over 2 Gw of solar power in the next few years, state-run NTPC is planning to play a major part in it. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, NTPC Chairman Arup Roy Choudhury said the company will invest Rs 5,000 crore in a solar power plant in Rewa district over the next few years. Edited excerpts:

NTPC has been engaged in Madhya Pradesh for many years and has been one of the oldest investors in the state. How do you plan to expand?

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