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Shares of state-run power companies have been on a roll off late on the back of rising electricity consumption in the country owing to early onset of summer coupled with heat waves.
In the last five trading sessions, NTPC has soared 17 per cent. The stock hit a record high of Rs 158 on Thrusday, and was up 2.6 per cent at Rs 157 on volume of around 90 lakh shares on the NSE as of 10.21 AM, while the NSE Nifty was down 0.5 per cent at 17,711.
Similarly, PowerGrid Corporation registered a fresh summit at Rs 239.80, and was up 0.4 per cent at Rs 237.30. The stock has gained 10.7 per cent in the last five straight trading sessions.
India’s power consumption has grown steadily at 4.6 per cent YoY in March to 126.12 billion units, showing the impact of early onset of summers and easing of lockdown restrictions by states.
According to an ICICI Securities note, India witnessed its worst electricity shortage from March 1 to March 30 since October. The March deficit of 574 million kilowatt-hours amounted to 0.5 per cent of overall demand or half the deficit of 1 per cent in October.
“The peak power demand met or highest supply in a day rose to 199.29 GW in the month compared to 170.16 GW in March 2020 and 185.89 GW in March 2021,” added the PTI report.
A surge in power demand in March forced India to cut coal supplies to non-power sector and hold fuel auction plans for utilities due to slump in inventories.
Meanwhile, NTPC had recently commissioned its 250 MW Captive Power Unit, at Rourkela, Odisha, of NTPC Sail Power, joint venture company. The installed and commercial capacity of NSPCL has become 1064 MW while the group installed capacity of NTPC has become 68881.68MW.
Further, PowerGrid had transferred balance 26 per cent equity shareholding of Powergrid Vizag Transmission to PGlnvlT at a price of Rs 330.78 crore. The company relinquished its right on additional revenue accruing to Powergrid Parli Transmission, Powergrid Warora Transmission and Powergrid Jabalpur Transmission to PGlnvlT for Rs 304.15 crore.
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