Power Minister meets banks on stressed power assets, NTPC floats tender

New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) As part of the ongoing process to deal with the issue of massive stressed assets in the sector, Power Minister R.K. Singh met bankers here on Wednesday.

Interacting with reporters here on the sidelines of a roundtable on hydro power organised by industry chamber Assocham, Singh also said that state-run genrator NTPC has floated a tender to acquire commissioned stressed coal-fired thermal power plants.

"Today (Wednesday) I had a meeting with bankers to review the status of stressed power projects," Singh said. Following a similar meeting with lenders earlier this month, he had said that the focus was on starting the stranded assets which could be revived.

Regarding the tender floated by NTPC to rescue stranded projects, the minister said that it is targeted at "promoters who have run into some financial problem".

"If a project can be rescued with some infusion of capital, then it makes sense for NTPC to take these over."

Of the 40 GW stressed thermal power generation capacity, around 12 GW capacity worth around Rs 50,000 crore commissioned after April 1, 2014 is eligible under this tender.

NTPC will shortlist the suitable operational domestic power assets located for possible acquisition. As per the tender, each plant size should be at least 500 MW.

The power sector accounts for a substantial chunk of the non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, in the Indian banking sector, which have reached a staggering level of over Rs 8 lakh crore.