By IANS
New Delhi : State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and auto components major Bharat Forge Ltd signed a deal here Friday to jointly manufacture power plant equipment.
“The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NTPC Ltd to set up a joint venture for its foray into the capital goods sector,” Bharat Forge said in a statement.
“Bharat Forge will hold a majority stake in the joint venture (JV),” the statement added.
“NTPC chairman T. Sankaralingam and B.N. Kalyani, chairman of Bharat Forge Ltd, signed the MoU in the presence of senior officials of the ministry of power,” the statement said.
“We have been present in this sector for the last 25 years but in a small way. The JV is basically to further strengthen our strategy of getting into the capital goods sector,” Kalyani was quoted as saying on the occasion.
“I am confident that our partnership with NTPC will prove momentous in changing the power sector landscape not only in India but also in the region,” he added.
“The JV will invest in manufacturing large forgings and castings for high value, critical components such as rotor shafts, components for turbo generators and other capital goods, which currently constitute strategic bottlenecks from a national capacity building point of view.”
“The JV would also manufacture other power plant equipments and machinery in due course,” the company added.
NTPC has also signed a similar agreement with the country’s largest power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL).
However, NTPC maintains that this will not lead to any conflict of interests.
“There is no exclusivity in either agreement,” Sankaralingam told reporters here.
“This is to create more flexibility for the central utility in exploring technology options for power equipment manufacturing,” he added.