CERC accords in-principle approval for NPEX

July 5 2009
New Delhi: The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has accorded in-principle approval for India's third power exchange-- National Power Exchange (NPEX)-- jointly promoted by NTPC, NHPC, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and the information technology behemoth, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS).
8NPEX has been proposed to be set up with an authorized share capital of Rs 50 crore and an initial paid up share capital worth Rs 5 crore. The power sector enterprises-- NTPC, NHPC and PFC would pump in 16.67% each to the authorized capital of the exchange, while the remaining 50% would be contributed by Tata Consultancy Services.
8Reportedly, the exchange will commence operations by December 2009, against the original schedule of April 2010. The four promoters executed the applicable joint venture agreement in September 2008, after filing an application with CERC. The exchange will compete with the two existing power exchanges of the country-- the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange of India (PXI). IEX, the country's first power trading platform, was launched in November 2007 by MCX, with PTC India Limited (PTC), Tata Power, Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IDFC), Reliance Energy, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC), Adani Enterprises Limited and Lanco Infratech Limited as promoters. As of June 27, IEX has traded around 3,768 million units (MU) of energy, whereas PXI, which commenced operations in October last year, has traded 253 MU, as of June 30, 2009.