India's NTPC Opens Bidding for $777 Million Coal Imports

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources--Bid documents will be available until May 26 for a $777 million tender issued by India's state-owned power utility NTPC Limited (BSE:532555) (New Delhi) for 4 million tons of imported coal.

This is the first time that the company has not dealt with trading firms such as the State Trading Corporation (STC) (New Delhi) and the state-owned Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India (MMTC) (New Delhi). These two companies have been importers of coal for NTPC in the past, although it has already signed an agreement with STC for the supply of 12 million tons of imported coal. A $1.3 billion tender placed previously with MMTC was cancelled due to issues being raised concerning the bidding process.

NTPC is looking to import 16 million tons of coal to fill part of the current annual requirement of 162 million tons. The winning bidder will be required to source non-coking coal and deliver supplies to a number of NTPC power stations. The company will fund the tender through internal resources.

NTPC is planning to add a further 4,320 megawatts (MW) to its current installed capacity of 43,194 MW in the current fiscal year.

For more information on problems causing supply bottlenecks in India's domestic coal supplies see April 26, 2011, article - India Likely to Miss Power Targets Due to Coal Supply Problems.

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