"The money raised has helped financial closure for
two ultra-mega power projects of 4,000 MW each - at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and
Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh," said Reliance ADA Group Chairman Anil
Ambani.
The move is part of an ambitious plan of the company to
invest about $17.75 billion in next three years to increase thermal power
generation capacity by 20,000 MW.
"Reliance Power will have operational capacity of
5,000 MW by 2012 and commission another 20,000 MW over the next three years (by
2015)," Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting.
Reliance Power, which currently produces 6,000 MW of
power, has three of the four ultra-mega power projects awarded by the Indian
government. The fourth one is the 4,000 MW Tilaiya project in the Indian state
of Jharkhand. The cost of generating one megawatt of electricity is about
$888,000.
Ambani also announced an outlay of $2.21 billion for the
2,400 MW power project at Samalkot in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The
construction for this unit, which had already started, will be completed by
2012, he told shareholders.
The group also plans 10,000 MW of gas-based power
projects, with feedstock coming from the fields of Krishna-Godavari basin, off
the coast of Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Reliance Power is set to invest about $6.66 billion for
setting up hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh in order to enhance its
clean energy portfolio, according to the company's CEO JP Chalasani.
The group also remained bullish on other renewable
sources of power such as wind and solar. "The renewable portfolio of the
company will comprise 600 MW solar and 400 MW wind projects," said
Chalasani.
Thus, the company's power generation capacity from all
sources of energy is expected to touch 35,000 MW by 2017.
The Anil Ambani Group is also planning to enter the
banking sector through group firm Reliance Capital after the Reserve Bank of
India, the country's central bank, threw open a discussion on granting new
banking licenses.
"We have always regarded banking as a high-priority
sector with huge potential opportunity, and are evaluating the different
options contained in the (RBI's proposed) guidelines," Ambani said,
referring to a discussion paper recently floated by RBI on grant of new banking
licenses.
The group, separately, said it is looking to unlock value
in its life insurance venture through listing of Reliance Life as an individual
company on the bourses.
Ambani said India's Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority (IRDA) is currently at an advanced stage of finalizing the guidelines
for the listing of life insurance companies.
"Once this is done, we will explore the possibility
of creating value for our investors by listing our life insurance
business," he told shareholders at Reliance Capital's AGM.
In another development, IRDA Chairman J. Hari Narayan
said the IPO guidelines for life insurers would soon be announced and was
currently awaiting clearance from Securities and Exchange Board of India - the
capital market regulator of the country.
