GMR Infrastructure plans to grow its power transmission business to handle projects worth about R3,000 crore over the next three years, from two projects worth R400 crore currently.
The Bangalore-based company with interests in airports, power plants and highways entered the power transmission business in October 2010 by winning two projects in Rajasthan.
?We have our strategy planned. We will do about R3,000 crore of transmission projects in the next three years, about R1,000 crore per year,? said Raaj Kumar, chief executive officer ? energy, GMR.
Currently, GMR is setting up 400 km of transmission lines for the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam with two sub-stations at a cost of around R400 crore, with a concession period of 25 years during which it will receive transmission charges. When completed, power would be sourced from distribution companies within and outside the state.
A 2010 KPMG report pegged India?s installed transmission capacity to around 13% of the total installed generation capacity with the central and state utilities owning the total transmission lines of 2.7 million circuit kilometres.
Private participation in inter-state and state-level transmission lines have begun only in the past few years and the power ministry has projected an investment of R21,000 crore from private investors and R55,000 crore from Powergrid Corporation of India for projects in the central sector by the end of the current plan period in 2012.
?Transmission is an area we have entered and we will stay there in a very reasonable way,? said Kumar, adding that the company had developed expertise in the area.
The segment, however, contributes to a minuscule portion of GMR’s energy business which clocked revenue of Rs 2186 crore in 2010-11, about 38% of GMR’s consolidated revenues of R5,773 crore in the fiscal. It currently operates three power plants with a total generation capacity of 808 Mw and expects to commission three plants totalling 1800 Mw in the current fiscal.