NLC India’s Big Growth Roadmap Explained | ET Now Exclusive with CMD
📅 May 25, 2026NLC India Limited8 MIN570 VIEWS14 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS
In an exclusive interview with ET Now, Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, CMD of NLC India Limited, discusses the company’s strong financial performance and ambitious roadmap for future growth.
The discussion covers:
• Record-breaking earnings and operational performance
• ₹1.25 lakh crore capex strategy
• Expansion of mining and thermal power capacities
• Renewable energy growth and green transition plans
• Target to achieve 51% renewable energy share by 2030
• Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) initiatives
• EV charging infrastructure development
• Lignite gasification projects and emerging tech...
What Prasanna Motupalli said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Prasanna Motupalli, former CMD of NLC India, discussed the company's record financial performance and growth plans. He attributed the all-time high revenue to record coal production and renewable generation, and expects sustainability through aggressive capacity additions across mining, thermal, and renewables. He outlined targets to double mining capacity to 100 million metric tons by 2030, increase renewable share to 51%, and grow total power capacity to 20 gigawatts, with 10 gigawatts from renewables. Motupalli mentioned a subsidiary for asset monetization, with assets transferred on January 1 and a market listing expected in the first half of the financial year. He praised the government's coal gasification scheme, noting 20% VGF support, and highlighted plans for lignite gasification at Neyveli. He also discussed expanding EV charging infrastructure and battery energy storage, with orders from Tamil Nadu and SECI, and outlined a capex plan of about 1.25 lakh crores funded through internal resources and asset monetization.
Key takeaways
NLC India targets doubling mining capacity to 100 million metric tons by 2030.
Total power capacity to grow from 8 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts by 2030, with 10 gigawatts from renewables.
Capex plan of about 1.25 lakh crores over 4-5 years, funded through internal resources and asset monetization.
Orders received for battery energy storage: 500 MW from Tamil Nadu and 1,800 MW from SECI.
0:06And what immediate drivers do you have in place for that?
1:31And is there a plan to, you know, monetize the renewable segment by listing that separately?
3:10Tell me, what will be the impact of this scheme on NLC's business?
4:33And when do you expect that operations should begin?
5:39Also, if you can give us a sense of the capex plan that you have earmarked, nearly 1.16 lakh crores by 2030, how much of that would be, you know, funded through internal accruals and how much through debt?
6:46What will be the revenue mix maybe in next 3 to 4 years once this business picks up?
But let's address another set of earnings. We've got Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, the chairman and MD at NLC India joining in on the show right now. Prasanna, great to have you today on ET Now. Thanks for your time. You've reported a very strong set of numbers. Your all-time highest ever revenue from operations, how sustainable is this run rate? And what immediate drivers do you have in place for that?
Madam, all-time highest revenue, that is mainly because of excellent performance of the company in all areas. We generated all-time highest ever coal this financial year and also our renewable generation is also all-time highest. And talking about sustainability, we are having aggressive plans of capacity addition in all three areas of mining, power generation, and renewable power generation. And many projects are in pipeline. And our Ghatampur thermal power station's third unit is also on the verge of commercial operation. So, going forward, whatever revenues we achieved last financial year, that will be sustained. In fact, that will be much more than what we achieved in the last financial year because of the aggressive capacity addition program that is going to be there in the next 4-5 years.
Mr. Motupalli, can you give us a breakup of the total capacity with respect to renewable and thermal? And is there a plan to, you know, monetize the renewable segment by listing that separately?
Exactly. As on date, we are having 50 million metric ton of coal plus lignite mining capacity and we are targeting almost to double that to 100 million metric ton by 2030 and already the new mining projects are in pipeline. Similarly in thermal, as you rightly said, as on date we are having renewable portfolio around 26%. And going forward we are targeting to take it to 51%. So, we are having a total power generation capacity of around 8 gigawatt and we are planning to take it to 20 gigawatt. Out of that 10 gigawatt will be renewables. Under asset monetization plan, we already formed a subsidiary for asset monetization and the assets of NLCIL were transferred to that subsidiary from the 1st of January and we are targeting to go to market in the LES and that will be in the first half of this financial year. With that, we are hopeful that we'll be able to maintain our performance in future also.
You know, the government recently approved a scheme for promotion of surface coal and lignite gasification as well. The projects and the financial outlays are sizable, at 37,500 crores. Tell me, what will be the impact of this scheme on NLC's business?
Madam, this is an excellent move to support the coal gasification initiatives. Now, the priority is to be given how effectively and in an eco-friendly manner the coal is to be utilized. And also we are depending on other countries for our energy requirements. So, this scheme is an excellent scheme up to 20% of VGF for the gasification projects. And in fact, the gasification of lignite is more easy than the gasification of coal. So, we are looking forward to taking this forward for gasification of lignite. We are having huge reserves of lignite as well as all infrastructure, power ecosystem, everything is available in Neyveli, which is very suitable for lignite gasification. So, with this scheme, the encouragement we got, we will be looking forward to taking this forward to a constructive and excellent lignite gasification unit at Neyveli.
So, diversifying into, you know, EV charging stations and BSS, what is the kind of capex that you are planning for that? And when do you expect that operations should begin?
7 more exchanges in this transcript
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Motupalli, P. (2026, May 25). NLC India’s Big Growth Roadmap Explained | ET Now Exclusive with CMD [Interview transcript]. NLC India Limited. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1046571/
MLA
Prasanna Motupalli. "NLC India’s Big Growth Roadmap Explained | ET Now Exclusive with CMD." NLC India Limited, 25 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1046571/.
BibTeX
@misc{motupalli2026_1046571,
author = {Prasanna Motupalli},
title = {NLC India’s Big Growth Roadmap Explained | ET Now Exclusive with CMD},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, NLC India Limited. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1046571/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
