TEMASEK Holdings is seeking stakes in Indian power producers including GMR Group as they double capacity to meet demand in the world's second-fastest growing major economy, reported Bloomberg news.
'We are in advanced discussions with GMR,' Wong Kim Yin, managing director for energy investments at Temasek, told reporters at a power conference in Singapore on Tuesday. 'We are trying to get exposure to the domestic India markets.'
Temasek, manager of about S$172 billion of assets, is betting utilities will ramp up generation in the next seven years to overcome power shortages that India's government says are constraining economic growth. The 17-member Bombay Stock Exchange Power Index has climbed 62 per cent in a year, lagging behind the 70 per cent gain in the main Sensitive Index, according to Bloomberg.
GMR Infrastructure fell 0.2 per cent to 63 rupees at 1.22pm in Mumbai trading compared with a 0.1 per cent gain in the Sensitive Index. The stock has climbed 24 per cent in a year.
A. Subba Rao, chief financial officer of GMR Group, denied on Dec 15 an Economic Times report that the group was in talks with Temasek and ICICI Bank Ltd to raise funds to build power plants. He couldn't be immediately reached at his office on Tuesday for comment, said Bloomberg.
'Typically we look more at investing in power companies than in power projects,' Mr Wong said, in reply to a question on whether Temasek was investing in new generators in India. Temasek, which has invested in resources companies and financial institutions including ICICI, India's second-biggest lender, is in talks with 'a number of players,' added Mr Wong.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said last month that inadequate supply of coal, gas and power is 'worrying' as it constrains economic growth. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for a partnership between the government and companies to increase power generation.
'In places like India and China, sources of funding remain domestic,' Temasek's Mr Wong said at the conference. 'It is unclear if funding will continue without government stimulus.'
Equity markets offer sources of funding and Singapore is relatively untapped by the power industry, he said.
sell utilities in S'pore to foreign companies and then buy foreign ones..................farking brilliant !