By: Vijay Kumar Verma, Group Editor-ICN World
SHIMLA : Overcoming the challenges posed by COVID-19, SJVN is fast moving to execute the projects at hand and for the purpose has already raised Rs 1000 crore of low cost funds and is also in the process of raising another USD 500 million through External Commercial Borrowing.
In an exclusive chat with this reporter, Nand Lal Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of the company talked about plans to raise funds for the upcoming projects.
SJVN plans an investment of Rs 75000 crore during the current decade in the upcoming power projects and a 257 km long Transmission lines for power evacuation Sharma said.
“In our efforts to raise low cost funds for the up- coming projects we have successfully completed unsecured non- convertible taxable debentures issue of Rs 1000 crore through bonds recently said Nand Lal Sharma. The debentures, with annual coupon rate of 6.10 percent will be maturing on 29th September 2026, he told . This is the first issue under debt market carried out by SJVN after raising funds through IPO in the year 2010, he said. The success of the issue under exceptional conditions, which was oversubscribed by more than 5 times by high quality diversified investor base confirm the market confidence in the credit- worthiness of SJVN, he said. CRISIL & India Rating and Research confirm the rating of SJVN at AA+ with positive outlook.
The company has also tied up for External Commercial Borrowing of USD 500 Million through PNB Dubai, said Nand Lal Sharma. The Role of PNB, Sharma added, is as Lender plus Facility Agent. The duration of the loan will be 5 years to be released in single installment and repaid @1.78 percent.
SJVN has also accumulated cash reserves of Rs. 8032 crore to fund its project portfolio of over 11000 MW internally, Sharma said. During the first quarter of FY 22 alone the company has added new power projects of 2525 MW capacity to its portfolio, he said. The Company has a networth of Rs.13100.97 crore at the end of June 2021 which has increased from Rs.12332 crore registered in June 2020.
Inline with the Vision of Government of India, SJVN plans to add more power projects in renewable sector, he told. The company already has a portfolio of 1345 MW of renewable power projects, Sharma told. While SJVN already has three solar power plants and two wind power plants in operation in the country, it has recently bagged a grid connected 1000 MW solar PV power plant from (IREDA) Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, said Sharma. This project, he said, had been bagged through Open Competitive Bidding process at a maximum tariff of Rs.2.45 per unit. The company had bagged another 200 MW Solar PV plant in Bihar in open competitive bidding process recently.
Earlier addressing the media at Shimla today, Nand Lal Sharma highlighted the achievements of SJVN in FY 2020-21 and spelt out the prospects of the company. He informed that SJVN had achieved an outstanding operational performance by generating 9224 million units of electricity from its 5 operational power stations in the country against the design energy of 8700 million units and the generation has far surpassed the targets.
Speaking about the Financial Performance, Sharma said that SJVN had clocked its highest ever Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs 2168.67 crore in FY 2020-21. The company’s Net Profit also increased to Rs 1633.04 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 1557.43 crore in 2019-20 and the Earnings Per Share (EPS) increased from Rs 3.96 per share in 2019-20 to Rs 4.16 per share in 2020-21. SJVN has declared a dividend of Rs 2.20 per share for 2020-21 of which an interim dividend of Rs 1.80 has already been paid in February 2021.
In the first quarter of FY 2021-22 SJVN’s Standalone Profit Before Tax was Rs 445.07 Crore registering an increase of 15.86% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The Standalone Net Profit increased by 12.77% to Rs 339.54 Crore from Rs 301.08 Crore over the June quarter of 2020-21.
About the prospects of the company, Sharma told that SJVN had been allotted 679 MW Lower Arun hydroelectric project in Bhojpur district of Nepal by the Government of Nepal; the 104 MW Tandi Project, 130 MW Rashil Project and the 267 MW Sach Khas hydroelectric project on Chenab Basis, by the Himachal Pradesh government besides the 1000 MW of Grid connected Solar PV Power Project by IREDA.
SJVN has been consistently paying dividends to the shareholders ever since commencing commercial generation in 2004. Equity of the company is held by Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh besides the general public. The shareholders have been well rewarded year after year Sharma said. On an equity holding of Rs.3930 crore the shareholders have already been paid dividends of Rs.8400 crore.
The company is executing Projects in Hydro, Thermal, Solar and Wind sector in India, Nepal & Bhutan.