Mahatransco readying IPO

Mahatransco readying IPO

Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co Ltd (Mahatransco) has lined up an over `16,000 crore expansion for strengthening the grid and evacuating power from plants of both state generation company and private producers that are coming up in the state. Arvind Singh, managing director of Mahatransco, speaks to Rajiv Ranjan Singh about the company’s plans. Excerpts from the interview: What is your expansion plan for the next three years? The transmission expansion plan till 2015-16 comprises 138 new substations with transformation capacity of 34,805 MVA and 16,530 circuit kilometres (Ckm) of EHV lines. This includes setting up 89 substations with transformation capacity of 20,800 MVA and 9,457 Ckm of EHV lines till 2013-14. How much is your capex for transmission projects? During 2011-12 to 2015-16, the capital expenditure planned towards various schemes is `16,775 crore. The capex envisaged for the power evacuation from Mahagenco projects is `3,320 crore. How are you funding the capex? Finances have been tied up with Rural Electrification Corporation for `6,000 crore and Power Finance Corporation for `4,000 crore. The cost of borrowing from them is high at around 11% plus. So we have also tied up with alternative sources like Japan International Corporation Agency and International Finance Corporation where borrowing cost is quite low. Domestic infrastructure lenders like IDFC have also shown interest in lending to us. What about your IPO plans? We are lining up IPO in the next fiscal where we will dilute 10% equity. Most of the preparatory work for it is over. Once the issue related to asset distribution of erstwhile MSEB between Mahagenco (generation firm), Mahatransco and Mahavitaran (distribution firm) is cleared by the government, we will come up with our IPO. In the last fiscal, Mahatransco recorded revenue of over `2,000 crore, PBT of over `500 crore and net profit of `329 crore. Today, it is the largest profit-making government company in Maharashtra. What are your plans to save Mumbai from power interruptions? Mahatransco has undertaken several measures to avoid the recurrence of power interruptions. The short-term plan includes immediate measures such as completion of stringing activities of lines, shifting of load and carrying out loop in loop out of lines. The long-term plans include setting up of 400 kV substations, implementation of voltage source based HVDC system, etc. What are your plans for evacuation of power, especially from Vidarbha where many projects are coming up? Mahatransco has planned evacuation schemes for Mahagenco expansion plans at Chandrapur, Koradi, Paras, Khaparkheda as well as for private producers like Adani Power at Chandrapur, Indiabulls at Amravati and Lanco at Wardha through a 765 kV network. In which part of the state major transmission lines are coming up? Major transmission lines are coming up in Vidarbha and Marathwada. The planned captial expenditure for five years in these regions to execute these schemes is `8,631 crore.