The power ministry has already approved the proposal for a tri-partite agreement to be signed with various state governments and the final nod from the finance ministry is awaited, top NTPC officials told PTI.

This would help the state-owned company check mounting dues it was incurring due to default in payments by various SEBs, the officials said.

Earlier, NTPC was entering into bi-partite agreements with SEBs and the state governments before signing PPAs. However, due to the default in payments by the SEBs and the state governments being in a poor financial health the corporation's dues had reached over Rs 10,000 crore during the year 1998-99, they said.

The plan torope in RBI would provide a guarantee cover to NTPC so that the SEBs or the state governments do not default in their payments, the officials said. State governments including Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Kerala have already agreed to get into the tri-partite agreement with NTPC.

Once the finance ministry approval is received, the corporation would be able to enforce the new PPA agreements, the officials said.

They said due to the mounting dues, the corporation would also face problems of raising resources from the domestic and international markets for their future power projects.

NTPC had earlier this month issued notices of discontinuation of power supply from June 1 to seven states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar due to their mounting arrears.

The outstandings of NTPC payable by various state electricity boards / utilities have risen rapidly and have accumulated to Rs 10,408.55 crore including a surcharge of Rs 3,708.59 crore as on March 31, 1999 corresponding to 5.8 months of billing asagainst level of two months agreed in the covenant with the World Bank.

Uttar Pradesh is top on the list with Rs 2.036.05 crore as outstanding dues followed by Delhi with Rs 2,024.54 crore and Bihar with Rs 1,793.95 crore.

Other states which include West Bengal have outstanding dues towards NTPC to the tune of Rs 944.32 crore, Orissa Rs 461.35 crore, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) Rs 441.85 crore and Sikkim Rs 18.95 crore.