Tata Power offers to sell 51% stake in Mundra for Re 1

Tata Power has offered to sell 51 per cent stake in its 4,000 MW Mundra power project for ₹ 1 to states like Gujarat which buy electricity from it so as to rescue the debt-laden, loss-making business.

Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd (CGPL), the Tata Power unit which operates the Mundra project, wrote to Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd earlier this month offering to retain only 49 per cent stake and operate the project as a contractor provided the procurers buy all the power at higher tariffs.

In the letter, copies of which were marked to Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, and Union Power Secretary, CGPL CEO Krishna Kumar Sharma said Mundra has accumulated losses of ₹ 6,457 crore against a paid up equity of Rs 6,083 crore. Besides, CGPL has outstanding loan of Rs 10,159 crore and lenders have stopped further disbursal due to non-viability of the project, he wrote.