PFC to close resolution plans of 5 stressed assets in 1 month: CMD Power panel mulls payment security mechanism for private players
NEW DELHI: Power Finance Corporation said Wednesday the worst was behind for stressed power assets and it would finalise resolution plans with five struggling projects with an exposure of Rs 8,254 crore in one month.
The state-run company said it had been working with other lenders of these projects for resolution.
The company would benefit from the Supreme Court's interim relief to stressed assets till November 11, 2018, from insolvency proceedings, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) Chairman and Managing Director Rajeev Sharma told reporters.
"Worst is behind us. We may close the deal for five such projects in next one month. Five projects with our exposure of Rs 8,254 crore are in advance stage of resolution," Sharma said.
He listed GMR Chhattisgarh, Jhabua Power and KSK Mahanadi where discussions with H1 (highest) bidders were underway to close the deals.
Similarly, one-time settlement offers by managements of Indiabulls Amaravati and Essar Mahan were under finalisation, he said further.
Sharma said that lenders have made significant progress towards resolution in two projects -- Indiabulls Nasik and RKM Powergen (Stage I and II). The company has exposure of Chairman and Managing Director Rajeev Sharma
8,156 crore in these two projects.
In case of Indiabulls Nasik, the takeover by state government (Maharashtra) is being pursued. The restructuring process is underway in case of RKM Powergen. It was declared L1 (lowest bidder) for 550MW in the recently concluded bids for pilot power purchase agreement scheme for stressed assets.
Sharma said, "The deadline for filing in NCLT for large borrowers was to get over on September 11, 2018 ... the Supreme Court has stayed the NCLT filing requirement under the RBI Circular. We are therefore continuing with the resolution process to close them at the earliest."
The apex court Tuesday stayed NCLT filing under insolvency proceedings till November 11, 2018. The RBI circular issued on February 12, 2018, requires banks to finalise a resolution plan in case of a default on large accounts of Rs 2,000 crore and above within 180 days, failing which insolvency proceedings will have to be invoked against the defaulter.
However, Sharma informed that as many as nine projects with the PFC exposure of Rs 8,100 crore are being resolved through National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Four projects with the PFC exposure of Rs 298 crore are being resolved through the DRT/SARFAESI mechanism, he added.
He expressed hope that power demand would pick up in the future from over 6 per cent at present with the implementation of household electrification scheme Saubhagya and in view of closure of oil plants of 15 GW to 20GW due to environmental concerns. NEW DELHI: A high level panel for power sector is considering payment security mechanism for private sector power generators, which has been the main cause of stress in the sector, an official said.
The committee's meeting was held on August 31, where detailed deliberations were done on ensuring payment for power supplied by private sector firms, Power Finance Corporation Chairman and MD Rajeev Sharma said.
He also confirmed that the next meeting of the committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary is scheduled on Friday.
Elaborating further, he said that payments for supplied power to private sector generators has been an issue, which is one of the main reason for their stress as they are not paid for more than six months in some cases.
Sharma was of the view that the the state-owned firms, like NTPC, have an advantage as they get the payment well in time but private sector firms have to deal with the delay in the absence of any payment security mechanism.
The government decided to set up a High Level Empowered Committee to resolve the stress and revive such assets in power sector on July 29, 2018.