NTPC plans to acquire stake in Indonesian coal mines

New Delhi, May 12 (UNI) Country's largest power producer National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) today said it plans to acquire majority stakes in one or two Indonesian coal mines.

''We have already appointed three merchant bankers for this and our endeavour is to finalise the stake purchase by the end of this financial year, company CMD R S Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

The state-run firm seeks to buy assets with reserves of 200-300 million tonnes, he added.

The power giant targets to increase its capacity to 75,000 MW by 2017 from its current capacity of 29,144 MW.

NTPC needs about 130 million tonnes of coal in this fiscal as compared to 122 million tonnes in the last financial year.

It has formed a joint venture firm Coal Ventures International Ltd, with Steel Authority of India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, Coal India Ltd and National Mineral Development Corp to acquire coal mines overseas.

UNI MP AK HT1647