Ahmedabad: Reflecting the crisis in the power sector, Adani Power Ltd, a subsidiary of the Adani group, announced a consolidated net loss of Rs 809.81 crore for the three months ended June 30, compared with a net profit of Rs 181.45 crore in the year-ago period.
Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Power.
The company posted a 75.63% growth in sales to Rs 1,501.88 crore as it sold 4,546 million units in the first quarter of this fiscal compared with 2,898 million units in the corresponding quarter last year.
While the company increased its power plant capacity at Mundra to 3,960 megawatts (MW) from 1,980 MW, it was running at a lower capacity with a plant load factor of 63%, the company said.
“Our power business has been impacted by reasons beyond our control such as the national issue of unavailability of domestic coal, high prices of imported coal and limited availability of transmission lines,” said Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Power. “While we are working with the authorities concerned to arrive at a solution, the Adani group is very confident of its power generation business and is moving as per schedule to commission two power projects—one at Tiroda and the other at Kawai—this fiscal.”
The company said it has commissioned India’s first ever private sector High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line from Mundra in Gujarat to Mohindergarh in Haryana. Set up at a cost of about Rs 3,400 crore, this transmission line is the longest dedicated line in the private sector and will supply power to energy hungry region of north India.
The company said it expects to achieve the expansion of capacity from current 4,620 MW to nearly 10,000 MW by March 2013.
“The fuel cost for the Mundra power plant has gone up by 200% in the last one year from Rs 1.15 per unit in the first quarter last financial year to Rs 3.13 in the corresponding period this year and this is without adjusting the forex loss. If Coal India with whom Adani Power has entered into an agreement for three of its units in Mundra, begins supplies soon, we can expect better result in the next quarter,” said Rohit Singh, a power sector analyst with IDBI Capital who tracks Adani Power.
Adani Power ended at Rs 43.30 on BSE on Wednesday, down 0.8% from the previous close while the benchmark Sensex rose 0.12% to close at 17,257.38.
maulik.p@livemint.com
