Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Fun in Raising Prices???

Q. Being a government company and the biggest in the sector, are you in a better position to get coal compared to other power companies.
We always get much less than what we require. But our supply has grown. Our requirement for the current year is 160 MT. The CIL Chairman has assured us that NTPC will get 10% more coal over last year's supply. Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) are in place for meeting this coal requirement. We have no dispute with Coal India on the issue of FSAs. But the fact remains that India is producing around half a billion tonne of coal every year and we need to double our production. What is the fun in increasing profitability by raising prices? Productivity must be increased if business is to be done.

Arup Roy Choudhury, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the country's largest electricity producer NTPC

If you have bargaining power, it is definitely a lot of fun to raise prices. The productivity enhancements can be the kickers. Growth has to come from both volume and pricing power.