Rs 20.334.4 crore loans tied up by NTPC

New Delhi, Apr 5 (UNI) To fuel its expansion plans, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) today said it has tied up loans from domestic banks and financial institutions aggregating Rs 20,334.4 crore including three new ones this year.

Out of the Rs 4,800 crore placed with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) as bonds, Rs 1,500 crore were utilised during 2006-07, NTPC Chairman and Managing Director T Sankaralingam said here.

The crporation has signed an agreement for a term loan of 100 million dollars with KfW of Germany, the first loan provided directly by them to NTPC which would be utilised to part-finance the expenditure on renovation and modernisation of NTPC power plants.

On the equity front, NTPC stocks continued to attract investors at the stock markets. The stocks closed at Rs 150.25 at the end of the year as against the opening price of Rs 134.10.

The latest market capitalisation of the company is Rs 1,32,700 crore (30.75 billion dollars) and the company is amongst the top four in terms of market capitalisation.

NTPC also declared an all time high interim dividend at the rate of 24 per cent of paid-up capital resulting into a dividend payout of Rs 1,978.9 crore.

UNI