New Delhi: Having been denied the budgetary support of Rs 13,000 crore by the Centre, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) may issue fresh equity to the public to raise funds required for adding 20,000 MW power generation capacity in the next 10 years.

"This is one of the options we are exploring. Due to implementation of 'availability based tariff' of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, the internal resources are coming down and to meet the shortfall we are looking at such options," NTPC Chief C P Jain told reporters.

NTPC needs about Rs 80,000 crore investment over the next 10 years to add the proposed 20,000 MW generation capacity.

Meanwhile, NTPC has recorded a 5 per cent jump in the net profit at Rs 3917 crore during 2001-02 as against Rs 3734 crore in the previous year, Jain said. The turnover during the year was up at Rs 20,415 crore compared to Rs 20,344 crore.

The corporation is, however, waiting for the new tariff policy being prepared by the Ministry of Power. Jain said the fund requirement position in the short and medium term would become clear after that.

To meet the immediate requirement of funds and to avoid delays in executing of future projects, NTPC has tied up upto Rs 6,300 crore finances with various domestic financial institutions and banks.

Besides, Jain said implementation of Ahluwalia Committee report on one-time settlement of dues would improve the resource position of the corporation considerably.

PTI