Though the overall income has shown an increase, the sale of energy has registered a decline of 7 per cent to Rs 1759.77 crore (Rs 1889.72 crore) mainly on account of the fact that it could not sell energy to the Western region grid as per an agreement entered with Tata Electric Compaies. In the previous fiscal, the company had sold energy worth Rs 180.83 crore in that region as against Rs 1.71 crore in 1998-99. This has reportedly forced the company to run the plant at a lower plant load factor (PLF).

The decline in energy sale has been more than made up by the four-fold increase from the EPC, contract, computer and international divisionsat Rs 500.40 crore (Rs 109.08 crore). The operating margins were more or less maintained.

Interest costs were lower at Rs 114.64 crore (Rs 120.59 crore) while depreciation was higher at Rs 171.39 crore (Rs 155.35 crore). The company has also made a higher tax provision of Rs 80.03 crore (Rs 35.01 crore).

The company has effected a 0.1 per cent decrease in transmission and distribution loss during 1998-99. It has also spent Rs 182 crore during the year to upgrade its distribution system. This is a part of the Rs 873-crore modernisation programme spread over five years.

The company's contracts division has reported a increased turnover of Rs 145 crore compared with Rs 89 crore in 1997-98. ST-BSES Coal Washeries, a 2.5-million MT coal-washery project being put up by the company along with Spectrum Technologies and CLI Corporation of US is presently under trial production. The company has also bagged an overseas order valued at Rs 45 crore.

PLF was highest in March

Compared to the third quarterof 1998-99, the PLF in the last quarter is lower by 2.5 percentage points. On a year-on-year basis, PLF is lower by 8.45 percentage points, but for the 85.05 per cent PLF in March, which was the highest during the year, the PLF for the year would have been much lower. This is because BSES cannot feed Western Grid anymore. On year-on-year basis, the sale in the licensed area (in units) is higher by 6.57 per cent. However, for the fourth year in running clear profit exceeds reasonable return.

-- Urmik Chhaya