PGCIL's Rs 1,300cr bonds prog gets ICRA rating

New Delhi, Dec 15 (UNI) Credit rating agency ICRA today assigned high credit rating LAAA to the proposed Rs 1,300 crore bonds programme of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) for 2006-07.

It also reaffirmed the LAAA ratings to the existing long-term bonds programme aggregating Rs 9,643 crore and the A1+ ratings assigned to the Rs 650 crore short-term debt programme of the company.

The ratings reflect GCIL's inter-state transmission network and national grid management, low level of business risks, cost plus transmission tariff structure and operating efficiency with an availability factor of over 99 per cent.

PGCIL owns and operates over 55,000 circuit km of high voltage transmission lines spread across the country and is 100 per cent owned by the Government.

During 2005-06, PGCIL reported a net profit Rs 1,009 crore on an operating income (OI) of Rs 3,198 crore as against a net profit of Rs 786 crore on an OI of Rs 2,572 crore in 2004-05.

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