India's NTPC posts Q4 profit rise on sturdy power demand

BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's National Power Thermal Corp (NTPC) reported higher fourth-quarter profit on Friday, fueled by strong domestic power demand.

Consolidated net profit for the country's top power producer grew 27% to 61.69 billion rupees (about $743 million) in the three months to March 31.

A rise in earnings comes as India witnessed heightened temperatures in the quarter, leading to a surge in electricity demand as a need for cooling appliances grew.

Meanwhile, the country's electricity generation rose at an average of about 8% annually following the pandemic year of 2020/21 due to both searing heatwaves and an uptick in economic activity.

NTPC's gross power generation increased by over 4% to 93.39 billion units during the quarter.

It added 3,704 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity in fiscal year 2024, taking its total installed capacity to 75,958 MW.

However, thermal power - its biggest segment's plant load factor, a percentage of energy utilised by the power plant corresponding to installed capacity, fell to 89.4% from 93.5% between January and March.

Revenue from operations grew 7.6% to 476.22 billion rupees.

It also approved the incorporation of a subsidiary company for undertaking a nuclear power energy business.

Adani Power reported a jump in fourth-quarter profit on higher demand and capacity, while Torrent Power's profit fell on higher expenses.

($1 = 83.0671 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)