GMR Energy, the holding company of GMR group's power business, said on Tuesday it will set up a 1,000 MW coal-based power project in Chhattisgarh.
The move is aimed at securing coal supply to its proposed 1,500 mega watt plant in the western coast. The company is looking for locations in Maharashtra and Gujarat for the plant. The infrastructure firm has paid half of the acquisition amount upfront and the balance will be paid after commercial production begins two years from now. Coal from the mine would be shipped to the new plant during the time of power generation.
"We have held talks with equipment as well as fuel suppliers and will firm up a plan in the next one years time," GMR Energy Executive Vice-President Avinash R Shah told reporters. GMR Energy is a unit of GMR Infrastructure Ltd. Shah said the company has hired very experienced people from state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation, including former Chairman and Managing Director M R Srinivasan, for its nuclear foray.
The irate villagers of Kamalanga and Mangalpur, who are among the affected persons of GMR's proposed 1800 Mw power plant in the area, had ransacked the company office on Monday protesting low compensation for land, lack of peripheral developmental work and denial of employment by the company.
The present offer is a third of Homeland Mining's initial valuation. GMR Energy, a part of GMR Infrastructure, had valued this coal mining firm at $310 million when it acquired a small stake in April 2008. "In our due diligence, we have found out that we had valued this firm much higher based on various factors such as how many layers one has to mine to access the worthwhile coal," a GMR Group official said.
The transaction was concluded on March 28 after getting all the necessary approvals, the company said in a statement.
GMR's power plant envisages to come up on 530 hectares, of which 310 hectares belong to some 250 farmers. The district administration had convened a public hearing, but had to stop the proceedings soon after it began. The villagers gathered at the meeting place and lodged a strong protest against the project, vowing not allow the power plant to come up in the area.
Infra major GMR is hopeful of maintaining strong order book.
Ahmedabad-based Torrent Group has completed the acquisition of a majority 67 percent stake in Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Titans.
The latest to join the list of projects that have achieved financial closure are two power projects -- 1,050 Mw GMR Kamalanga Energy of GMR Energy coming up at Dhenkanal in Orissa and the second phase 300 Mw Rosa power project in Uttar Pradesh promoted by Reliance Power. Experts said financial closure for another Rs 100,000 crore worth of projects are likely to be achieved in this calendar year, mainly from the power and infrastructure sector.
India's civil nuclear liability regime has raised serious questions about the country's capacity addition programme. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, G R Srinivasan, former vice-chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and currently principal associate-nuclear power business in GMR Energy Ltd, says the regime is tremendously unbalanced and may adversely affect the nuclear capacity addition programme.
Kiran Kumar Grandhi, 38, was earlier in charge of the urban infrastructure and highways business, which contributes five per cent of the Rs 10,000-crore revenue of GMR Infra.
India story, pressure to invest are driving spurt in PE activity.
The Union government has threatened to cancel coal block allocations of as many as 17 companies for failure to develop those allotted to them years before. These include big companies such as Tata Iron and Steel, Sterlite Energy, GMR Energy, ArcelorMittal India, Reliance Energy, GVK Power, Lanco Group and Rungta Mines.
Asset sales have helped ease investors' worry but debt remains at alarming levels
In what could hit trading on Power Exchange of India Ltd, the Forward Markets Commission has warned it to cease trading in contracts beyond 11 days of payment and delivery. The FMC has also advised traders to desist from trading such contracts on PXIL.
ADA Group's Reliance Energy and GMR Infrastructure are the two Indian firms that have been shortlisted in the bidding process to acquire Singapore's Tuas Power, one of the three power firms put on block.
Two traders - Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and GMR Energy Ltd - have already surrendered their licences.
Leading power players Reliance Infrastructure and GMR Energy believe this will help ensure coal availability for their mega projects in the pipeline. "They have various proposals on their table, which are relatively cheaper when compared to the scene before the beginning of the financial crisis. However, the acquisitions will depend on the ability of the acquirers to raise funds as the banks have stopped lending at cheaper rates," said a source.
Reliance Industries is ostensibly seeking a 25 per cent increase in the price of natural gas it produces from the eastern offshore Krishna-Godavari Basin after it wrote to the Oil Ministry saying it has customers willing to pay more than the government-approved price.
Tata Power, GMR Energy and GVK Power are eyeing the capital's Rs 175-cr first waste-to-energy project.
The Bangalore-based GMR group has bought out the stakes of US power majors CMS Energy and Public Service Enterprise Group in Tanir Bhavi and Basin Bridge power plants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, respectively.
The petroleum ministry has said Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is not right in seeking an out-of-turn rise in the price of natural gas produced from the KG-D6 fields and asserted the $4.205 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) rate will prevail unless pricing formula is changed.
Over a dozen private players, including Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Energy Ltd (REL), real estate giant DLF and infrastructure majors GMR and L&T, are understood to have bid for modernisation of Udaipur airport.Other bidders in race for the project include Soma Constructions, L&T and Gammon India, besides Dubai-based ETA, the sources added.
Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Energy, Tata Power, GMR and aluminium manufacturer Nalco are keen to enter nuclear power business, NPCIL Director (Finance) JK Ghai said.
Their coal block bids may be referred to CCI.
In the largest acquisition of a global energy utility by an Indian company, GMR Infrastructure has bought 50 per cent in the Netherlands-based power generation company, InterGen NV for $1.1 billion (approximately Rs 4,694 crore).
Gujarat would house the largest solar energy park in Asia in two years, with a power production capacity of 500 Mw.
Major corporates are staring at an uncertain future after investing substantially on their projects
The projects coming up in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha will together add 16,000 MW capacity to country's power generation.
The government has a two-pronged strategy for e-auction of cancelled coal blocks.
To tackle increasing demand, the Union Ministry of Power has urged central and state public-sector power-generating companies (gencos) and state power and energy departments to pick projects that are undergoing insolvency proceedings. The power ministry is looking at a quicker turnaround of these stressed power plants and enhancing power supply. Increasing demand is pushing states to scout for more power sources. "It is requested that state-owned gencos may be encouraged to participate in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of stressed power assets, which are of strategic and commercial significance to the capacity addition plans of the states concerned.
These include Great Eastern Energy Corporation and Shemaroo Entertainment.
Pooling will also kick-start projects of Reliance Power, Torrent, Lanco.
Earlier bidders in the SHAKTI auction were finding it difficult to meet their PPA obligations owing to shortfall in coal supply. The industry lobby has urged the Centre to review the guidelines and allow former participants as well.
Uniparts India and PNC Infratech are the latest companies to file initial public offer papers.
Eleven bidders, including Adani Enterprises, have shown interest in the first-ever coal import tender issued by national miner Coal India (CIL). Recently, state-owned NTPC awarded 6.25 million tonnes (mt) of imported coal tender worth Rs 8,300 crore to Adani Enterprises. CIL, in a public statement on Tuesday, said: "The prominent Indian agencies among them (11 coal importers) were Adani Enterprises, Mohit Minerals, and Chettinad Logistics. "A couple of coal exporting agencies from abroad, including one from Indonesia, have also shown interest," it said.
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