Rakesh Kumar, chairman and managing director of NLC India Limited, says that the company is taking self-sustaining, motivating and revenue-generating initiatives to enhance the quality of life of its employees and stakeholders. In conversation with Jetender Rawat
Could you elaborate on the growth plans of NLC India Limited?
When I joined the organisation back in 2012, I saw that there was a big potential to leverage the debt equity ratio for its advantage. Therefore, we formulated an ambitious growth plan. In 2015, we set a target to enhance our power generation capacity. It was less than 3,500 megawatt at that time and we dreamt of reaching beyond 20,000 megawatt. We had set the standard high but we were also confident enough to achieve it. Since then we have been progressing well. We have been able to leverage our debt equity ratio and use it optimally.
You have completed more than a year as the chairman of the company. How would you describe your journey?
I joined on September 28 last year. It has been a wonderful experience since then. We have built a strong connection with the stakeholders and our team is motivated to take up higher goals. Our people are able to show positive results in many spheres. For example, our latest 709 megawatt solar power project is progressing very well. Our team is working at the site and our SDOs are committed to their job. We are very much satisfied. We reached out to Andaman and Nicobar for completion of unique battery-based solar power project of 20 megawatt, of which 2.5 megawatt was completed in a record time of two-and-a-half-months from October 2018 to December 2018 and the balance work is in progress. We have an ambitious project of 1980 megawatt coal-based power plant in Ghatampur near Kanpur district, which is also progressing quite well. Now we are target to commission the first unit by November 2020. There are three units of 660 megawatt. We are hopeful that we will be able to complete that project on time. We are also proactively resolving the issues which are being faced in between the work. We are working on 1,000 megawatt lignite-based power plant in Neyveli. This is going to be the first-of-its-kind as it’s the first time in India. The efficiency is such that the 1,000 lignite-based power plant can replace the 600 megawatt one (this implies that the quantity of lignite which was used for 600 megawatt will be sufficient for 1,000 too). It has been a great experience overall.
Sustainable development is an important part of your approach at NLC. Are there any new programmes in the offering?
Sustainable development is the need of the hour, especially in lignite and coal mining. So we are focussing on the mined out land by reclaiming its bio fertility. To do that, we are deploying various techniques, one of them being Israeli technology. It has an excellent impact. If we talk about its advantages, it is multi-dimensional. First, we are able to fulfill the legal and moral obligations. Second, we feel this plays a huge role in providing employment opportunities. Third, the surplus land which was lying idle is deployed to generate revenue which in turn reduces the cost of mining. Fourth, we are able to develop the skills of people who are otherwise marginalised. The farmers or workers do not have enough resources, technology and risk bearing capacity. All these measures enable them to take a leap forward in agriculture and other trades.
Neyveli has a long history of dealing with environment very friendly. If you see our afforestation and mining activities, we have been very conscious to the environment. In fact, if you see the township from a certain height, you will not find a single house there. You’ll see a green carpet. We are continuously focussing on the plantation and reclamation of land in a big way. Every year the effort is much bigger and turns out to be better. In future, we are sure that we will be able to show it to the whole world — how mining, especially of lignite and coal, can be viewed as environment friendly rather than being hazardous.
Are you planning to expand to other projects like renewable energy?
We are focussing more on solar projects because we have tasted it’s success after having completed 10 megawatt and 130 megawatt in Neyveli, 400 megawatt in Tamil Nadu (now 709 megawatt in Tamil Nadu). We are proceeding in terms of solar and we have been mandated by MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) for ultra-mega solar power park in Tamil Nadu. So we are actively discussing that with the State Government. They are also very keen for the project. This will be the first solar park by NLC (if happens). We are very hopeful.
In 2015, there was a 32-day strike by workers. How did it affect the company and how did you handle it?
It all depends on how we interact with the workers, how much expectations we fulfill, how do we involve them in the main process and make them our important stakeholders. It is not always necessary to give them rewards financially. Involving them at every step of decision making matters. They should feel like they are an important part of the company. We always try to motivate. There are regular discussions on various topics and even on the pay front.
You have received so many awards in the past. How do they matter to you?
Awards are just the side results ofour activities. They are not something that we measure my work by. Prizes are just the fruits borne out of the dedication and the hard work that we put in.
What is your expansion plan? Is NLC planning to acquire coal mines abroad?
During the recent visit to Russia, where our Prime Minister, Narendra Modiji also visited, he motivatedus. And we found some opportunities after discussing with various organisations that we can try to havesome ventures either alone or with Coal India Limited. Progress is going on some fronts but we are yet to get concrete results. Only after that we’ll be able to share.
How did you manage to get approval for mega projects in record time and start the work?
Are you talking about the Talabira mines? Well, yes, we got the approval for Talabira mines really fast. I would definitely credit the team. We had to work with the government departments, take them into confidence and share all the details. These measures help to bring all the stakeholders on the same platform.
Any projections for the year 2019-20...
The year 2019-20 has been a challenging one so far. Majorly because of the replacement of our oldest power plant in Neyveli. The work is going in full swing. In 2018-19, we reached all-time high capex and this year, we are targeting to reach the level of more than
8,000 crore capex, which means that we want to take the excess equity out of operations which is to be replaced by the interest bearing working capital loan. Therefore, financial impact on the profitability is the natural thing to happen. But we are not disappointed, we know that we are investing for the future and it is a transition phase only. Our solar and Talabira mines project are in progress and I have faith that it will soon start generating revenues.
Are there any plans to promote wind energy projects in Rajasthan?
Although we had plans for setting up 250 megawatt of wind power project but so far we have not got any great success on that front after completing 51 megawatt in Tamil Nadu. We will be keenly watching for the opportunities.
Any other important insights on your work that you would like to share...
We are open to all the areas. We are trying to take initiatives which should be self sustaining, motivating, revenue generating, bringing excellence and quality of life to our employees and other stakeholders. We want to move forward not only taking our employees or contract workers into the mainstream but also the project related people for which we are trying to do something bigger and better. Recently, after signing the MoU with Annamalai University, we could secure 50 per cent seats for project related people in the diploma course for which we constructed the building and infrastructure. Now the course is almost completed. We have decided to engage those diploma holders as a trainee in our mines for a period of two years. We will be ensuring that they gradually attain excellence in the mining skills and are able to get the employment at their own or in our mines.