I would kindly request our esteemed CVO Rajan Iyer to the dais please. I request Sridhar Prabhakar Singh Sodiya, Director of Planning and Project and Director Power Charge, to kindly come to the dais.
We also request our esteemed Director of Finance Dr. Prasanna Kumar Rajcha to the dais please.
Requesting Dr. HR to kindly come to the dais.
Also requesting our esteemed CMD Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli to kindly take his seat on the dais as we embark on today's journey of learning and celebration. Let us begin with the invocation of light, the eternal source of love, wisdom, knowledge and enlightenment. We kindly request the distinguished dignitaries on the dais for the ceremonial lighting of the lamp.
I now invite the Joint Director to deliver the welcome address.
It gives me immense pleasure and a profound sense of honor to extend a warm and cordial welcome to each one of you for this executive discourse on Leadership Beyond Boundaries. I extend a heartfelt welcome to our most respected Chairman and Managing Director Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli. We are deeply honored by the gracious presence and the inspiring leadership.
Of the significance and journey behind today's program, I request everyone to kindly watch the screen and be part of this visual presentation. Thank you.
A token of timeless treasure of memorable memories frozen in frame. We now present the photo album to our respected and esteemed CMD Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli. I kindly request all our functional directors and CVO to present the hard copy of the photo album to our CMD first.
Felicitations are the language of gratitude spoken to excellence. Now for the felicitations, I kindly invite Shri Dasan, President ATP representative, on behalf of the recognized unions WPU and ATP, for his felicitation address.
Now I kindly invite the General Secretary, representative on behalf of BMS-affiliated unions, for his felicitation address.
Today is a day filled with mixed emotions, both sweet and bitter for all of us. Sir, your passion and professional excellence inspired many executives of NLC India Limited to obtain IPMA Level C and Level D certifications. Under your guidance, NLC India has become the first CPSU in India to achieve the prestigious IPMA certification Level Three. On behalf of the Officers' Association, we wish you a long, healthy, happy, and fulfilling retirement life, sir. Thank you, sir.
Next I would like to invite the President, SCST Federation.
Now I kindly invite Shri Diwalaja, General Manager and President of BIPS, on behalf of the Women in Public Sector Forum, for her felicitation address.
Sir, under your guidance the company has achieved its highest ever production in lignite, coal, and power generation, while earning the recognition and appreciation from all stakeholders including the Ministry of Coal. When you took over the leadership in January 2023, the company's share price was around 74 to 82 rupees. Today it has grown to multiples of four times, to 320 rupees, reflecting the confidence of investors and the value you have created for the company and its stakeholders. Thank you very much, sir. We sincerely thank you for standing by us. Wishing you both good health, happiness, and many more years of success together. Good health, long peaceful life with family for the second innings of your life. Thank you, sir. Thank you for giving this opportunity. I thank the CMD and sir for the first time giving this opportunity. Thank you very much.
Our relationship with NLC probably won't stop with this. I wish once again all the very best, and the kind of energy he has, I don't think he will probably have just a second and third innings — much, much bigger, stronger, and greater. Thank you all.
May I now request Shri Sridhar Prabhakar Singh Sodiya, the Director of Planning and Project and Power in charge, to kindly offer his felicitation.
Not only at the company level, even at the national level, when some crisis was faced by the Ministry of Power with the fuel scarcity, he was at the helm of it. At that time, nobody would like to take the responsibility that fuel management at a national level could be managed, but sir has done it exceedingly well as a leader.
You have to leave a legacy which coming generations can come and cherish. Here, after joining NLC, the list of achievements has become bigger and bigger. Sir has cleared more than 72,000 e-office files. I am not saying e-office files — I am saying decisive decisions to catapult this organization into a different order that has left an impression.
It is destiny. Sometimes, as some of my earlier speakers have shared, when sir joined, there were many crises this company was facing. I will say in this manner: it is destiny. Destiny has created a vacuum, and the vacuum had to be filled by a perfect team leader with decisive leadership. He is very cordial with everybody. Normally it is said that if a board is very coercive — sir, the board is never coercive. It is the leader who makes it coercive.
Sir and Madam, both of you have a life ahead full of joy, health, and a more satisfying life in the future. Thanks a lot. And I can proudly say, in all the nine quarters, I have not spent more than five minutes with CMD sir for finalizing the financial budget. I have seen in the previous cases we have sat together for days and weeks to finalize things, but sir has given that liberty to me.
I used to go with the paper, with the first draft, saying this is what is coming and we are trying to improve. Then he used to say only one word: at least try to improve something. And he gives all this confidence to me that I will take care of all these things. He never bothered, and even he has not seen the presentations before the board. I used to give all these things, and that much liberty he has given, not only to finance but to all the disciplines, and that is called true leadership.
The wisdom he has, definitely I think sir will definitely in one form or the other give his knowledge and wisdom for nation building. Sir, definitely the country expects much more from you in various other capacities. Even though you are retiring from this organization, there is no end to grasping your knowledge. The country wants that, and I hope you will give the nation that knowledge and wisdom.
With all this, the family of sir has definitely given a lot of support. Thank you to all the family members here who are joining in this function.
May I request Shri Samit, the Human Resource Director, to kindly offer his felicitation.
He has an MBA in HR, so he has been a source of great help and support to the HR category. As the Director of Finance was saying, a lot of HR initiatives he has initiated, and we have taken together during the last three years. A lot of benefits which even in Maharatna companies are not available to employees, we have started giving. Maybe it is there in one Maharatna company; it is not there in seven others. But in NLC, we have taken a lot of new initiatives and brought a lot of happiness to our employees.
The last felicitation scheme which we started for our ex-employees — the people who turned 70, 75, 80, 85 — they are really very happy, and lots of them have told me personally that they are so much happy with this.
Whether I am supposed to inform or not, but let me announce: two HR files he has signed — one related to payment of leave encashment, another related to payment of pension. While going also, he will be showering his happiness on us, making us all very happy and our families so happy.
From my side, sir, my family, and my entire HR collective, I wish you, Madam, and your family all the very best — the best of health, happiness, and may you soar greater heights in the community. Thank you, sir.
The family members of our Chairman kindly step forward to share their felicitation.
Many people define success through achievements, position, or years of service. But when I think of my father, I think of something much greater. I think of a man who truly represents dedication, integrity, and perseverance. His journey of hard work and determination began right from his childhood. During his school days, he used to wake up early, take care of his siblings, and still find time to study. Even as a child, he was good at balancing many responsibilities. When there were power cuts, he would study under the street lights because he never wanted to miss his studies.
He studied in a Telugu-medium school until 10th standard. Even after switching to English medium during 12th and engineering, he worked hard and became the college topper, which not many people can do. He was one of the best students in the class, obedient and a favorite student among his teachers.
He started his career as a trainee and through hard work, dedication, and continuous learning, grew step by step in his profession. He has never missed a promotion and is the only person from his batch to reach this position. What I admire most about him is his willingness to keep learning and improving himself. And even after achieving so much, he has remained humble and grounded.
To his colleagues, he is a dedicated professional, a strong leader. But to us, he is the best father, a caring husband to my mother, a loving son, our teacher, our biggest supporter, and the strongest pillar of our family.
He is also a very caring father. He always tracks my travels, calls me before I start, checks on me during the journey, and makes sure I reach home safely. No matter how busy he is, I can talk to him about anything — from the smallest worries to the biggest questions in my life. He has always guided me with patience and wisdom. I truly cannot imagine my life without you. We are very proud of you and love you so much.
Today we celebrate not just your retirement but the wonderful person you are. I would also like to thank my mother. She has been the strongest pillar of our family. There were many times when my father was busy and stayed late at work. During those times, she managed everything at home and never let us feel his absence. She has always supported my father, my brother, and me in every way possible. I truly believe that she is the reason behind many of his achievements and success. She is a kind-hearted and wonderful woman who taught me some of the most important values in life. Thank you for your love and sacrifices.
Finally, I would like to thank the entire NLC family for the love, care, and affection you have shown to our family over the years. Even today, I closely follow the events and celebrations at NLC, and I am always amazed by the togetherness you all share. We will truly miss being part of this beautiful NLC family. Thank you all.
Last but not the least, I would like to dedicate a Telugu song to my father. Pardon me if I make mistakes.
Thank you all.
It gives me immense pleasure to share a few words about Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, Chairman and Managing Director, NLC India Limited, on the occasion of his superannuation from service on 30th June 2026. My association with Shri Motupalli has been both intellectually enriching and personally inspiring. In my interactions with him, particularly in the academic and research context, I have always seen in him a rare combination of administrative discipline, technical depth, strategic clarity, and scholarly curiosity.
Very few senior leaders are able to carry the weight of vast professional responsibility while also retaining the humility and discipline of a serious learner. Shri Motupalli is one such distinguished personality. What stands out most about him is his ability to look at the energy sector not merely as an operational domain but as a large national responsibility. His professional journey across power, mining, infrastructure, fuel management, and renewable energy reflects a deep understanding of India's development priorities.
And now we have the privilege of hearing from our CMD, Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, who exemplifies this truth — a seasoned leader whose journey reflects resilience, remarkable achievement, and the ability to lead across cultures, challenges, and changes. Please join us in welcoming our respected and esteemed CMD to share his insights on Leadership Beyond Boundaries.
I respectfully greet my better half and best half Radhika Motupalli, my functional directors, Chief Vigilance Officer, Executive Directors, TGMs, senior officers, all executives of NLC, workmen of NLC, contract labor, CASF, our partners of progress, unions, associations, federations, and all NLC family members and their family members and all present here. Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Mahasura — remembering all my gurus since childhood on this occasion, and I even consider each and every member of my family as my guru. Remembering the divine blessings of my mother, my father, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, and I am very happy with the presence of my entire family members here — my son, my daughter, my son-in-law, my daughter-in-law, and father and mother of my daughter-in-law, and brother of my daughter-in-law — all are here. I am very happy about that. Also my granddaughter Kyaki.
So at the outset, I thank the entire NLC team for the support I have received from you all over these three and a half years. All the speakers since the beginning, including all others — they attributed the success of our organization to me, but I attribute the entire success to our organization's team and NLC, not me. If at all I got some recognition for the achievements, that is because I was head of this organization as CMD, but the entire credit goes to Team NLC.
When I joined this organization, you already told about the condition of our organization. There was a decision paralysis in the company. Not a single megawatt was added in the last five years. The morale of employees was low, and power generation was almost half the capacity, mainly because of land acquisition issues. And with support from the entire board of directors, Chief Vigilance Officer, and the entire team, we could change that perception.
The first challenge was, as you already told, the Ghatamudi project. Everybody was very much worried about Ghatamudi because more than 16,000 crore was already spent on that project, and that project was not giving any return. That was the concern of the Honorable Minister, Honorable Secretary, everywhere, because it is a national loss. The second challenge was thermal power stations were operating at half their capacity only, mainly because of lignite shortage — lignite non-availability attributed to non-availability of land.
And the major challenge was the Perunthalaivar river. I think many people know about it and many people may not know about it. The Perunthalaivar river, we were diverting it for one year to one and a half years, they were behind me in taking each and every decision, which resulted in this Herculean task we could complete in 25 days — which is a history. It is not a history of our country at any point of time. Despite having ideological differences between the state government and central government, we could convince them, and they provided us huge permissions. With that we could complete the entire river diversion within 25 days.
The quantum of work involved in that — the transportation of earth material, more than 2.5 lakh cubic meters of earth material was shifted within 25 days. And all this because of the confidence and support you all have given me in taking forward this organization. Your belief, your support, your sacrifices, your commitments, your dedication, and your endeavor to see the organization at the next level — that resulted in this transformation of the company.
I was telling about decision paralysis — with the support from our functional directors and Chief Vigilance Officer, we could change that. And from that decision paralysis stage, we reached a stage where a 27,000 crore thermal power station was awarded within 24 hours. This is a record in the history of thermal power stations in the country. The Talavadi thermal power station was awarded, including all board approvals, everything within 24 hours. That is the atmosphere we could create, all because of the support from the team.
In our Puranas, people talk about three murthis — they represent and reflect human life, or organization life, or country's life. Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the maintainer, and Shiva — we cannot call him destroyer — he is a transformer. So as Team NLC, we followed the same principles. Brahma the creator — we created a number of opportunities to take the organization to new heights. Vishnu the maintainer — we maintained the legacy of the organization, a 70-year-old organization. Whatever legacy is there, values are there, those values and legacy, the performance, the reputation — we maintained.
And transformation — that was the requirement of energy transformation. There was a requirement of organization transformation, and in the role of Maheswara, the transformation, with the support from all team members, we could transform the culture in the organization.
The organization was having a very bad reputation about safety. Wherever we were going, discussing about something, they used to immediately say whether these achievements were at the cost of fatal accidents. From that stage we reached a level of almost zero accidents, because of the commitment and dedication from you all. And going forward also, we should keep safety as a topmost priority. Our performance cannot be at the cost of human lives. We should keep safety as the topmost priority. And with support from each and everyone sitting here and joined virtually, we could reduce the number of accidents to almost zero. I wish that whenever next speech comes from any of you, you should proudly say that there are zero accidents. We should all work for that.
We discussed about Brahma, Vishnu, Maheswara, but at the same time the goddesses associated with three murthis — Saraswati, knowledge: we put all the efforts as a team to impart the required knowledge of each and every member of Team NLC. And Lakshmi — the main requirement for any progress: we require around 1.25 lakh crore of capex for reaching our targets in the next three to four years. That also we managed in such a way that we get the finance at the cheapest possible rate, improving our margins. And Parvati, reflecting change — we as an organization have become so agile that whatever green initiatives are there in the country as on date, all those initiatives led by NLC. Whether it is green hydrogen, whether it is pump storage, whether it is battery storage — NLC is taking the lead.
Today's topic you kept as Leadership Beyond Boundaries, but I say that today I want to express my gratitude beyond the boundaries. My first gratitude goes to the Government of India, Honorable Minister for Coal Mines Krishna, and earlier Prahlad Joshi, then our Ministry of Power led by Secretary Power, and their outstanding and seamless support, even in times of crisis, that facilitated us to perform.
I should thank my entire board of directors for their seamless and committed support in taking decisions, in taking the organization forward to the level of excellence. As on date, NLC board is the most diversified board in the country. No two directors are from the same organization. It gives immense strength to the board also, because each and every director is having different foundation, different background, different organization. So a perfect mixture of different organizations that can take the organization to great heights.
I should thank all our independent directors and our ex-directors, ex-CMDs, who always give encouragement to each and every new initiative we are taking. And our executive directors, EGMs, all executives — they are so disciplined, sincere, committed. Only thing is they need direction, and whatever initiative we take, whatever instructions we give, they follow wholeheartedly. That is the way NLC is working.
Although NLCIL as an organization is a Navratna company, the team here is having capabilities and characteristics of a Maharatna company. I should thank each and every member of Team NLC for the support you extended to me in taking the organization forward to these heights.
Now as on date, NLC enjoys investors' confidence, stakeholders' confidence, ministry's confidence, minister's confidence, and all stakeholders' confidence. This is the need of the hour, and going forward also we have to maintain the same with whatever performance we exhibited over these three years. The government, stakeholders, investors are having the same expectations. We are telling that our share price increased almost five to six times over the last three years. They will expect that in the next three years it will further increase by six times. Our market capitalization three and a half years back was 9,800 crores. As of date it is more than 45,000 crores.
They expect that within the next three years this will become 2 lakh crore. So for all these things we have to work with more commitment, more dedication, and more target-oriented. Then only these things are possible, otherwise they will compare with the past performance.
I am fully confident that with the new CMD at the helm of affairs, the organization will continue to grow and reach pinnacles of excellence going forward. Whatever I achieved, that is as Team NLC we achieved, but whatever we achieved, the main reason, the main support for that is my family.
I attribute this entire success particularly to my wife. Whatever you are seeing, whatever achievements you are seeing in the professional sphere, the background support is from my wife. Many sacrifices and many commitments are there which supported me to reach this level. Not only now — even during my early life as an executive, from that time onwards she is a strong supporter, strong critic, strong encourager.
I also want to thank on this occasion my son and daughter for their support in each and every role I played. Even in NLC, NTPC — on Sundays when I used to be in the plant, her friends, my daughter's friends, my son's friends — she used to tease them telling that see, my father is today there in the house and we are having a nice time today. So they used to tell them, your father is working for your family, my father is working for the nation.
They used to tell like that. And we are fortunate to have a similar type of son-in-law and daughter-in-law, and their support is immense in whatever achievements I have had. And the recent addition to our family is our granddaughter Kyaki Shivakami, and her innocent smile — whether we see directly or in a photo or a video call — that bursts the entire stress.
So I attribute my success to my family members — my brother, my sister, my brother-in-law — and I am blessed with four brothers-in-law. And when I am busy in taking forward organizational requirements, they take all my responsibilities. My son's marriage, my daughter's marriage — all these things were fully supported by them. And each and every small success, they encourage.
So today, my brother-in-law, my daughter-in-law's father and son are here, father and mother also here, and I thank all my family members for their outstanding support in taking this organization forward.
Many things were told about employee welfare. I always believe that if we take care of people, people will take care of the organization. This is a similar situation here. When we started taking care of the people, they started taking care of the organization with more commitment and dedication. And I hope the same thing will continue in the future also, because they are our main strength.
We should find ways how to extend benefits to them, how to make their stay comfortable. As on date, our township is considered as the best township in the country, and that is mainly because of that reason. And when I first visited in January 2023 itself, I visited almost all types of quarters, starting from A-type quarters to all types of quarters. And there was a press item that he is the first CMD to visit the township headquarters.
But at the same time, that gave confidence to our town administrative department to take it as a challenge and make the stay of each and everyone comfortable. Whatever facilities are there, all facilities they upgraded. All the parks in the township are upgraded. All the function halls in the township are in the process of being upgraded. And going forward, let us make our township with more facilities and more support so that our people have a pleasant stay in this township and take the organization forward.
Before I conclude, I once again thank each and every member of this NLC team — our directors, Chief Vigilance Officer, Director Madam, and all present here and joined virtually — for your outstanding support in taking this organization forward. Although I am getting superannuated in two days, whenever I see the success of NLC, I will be very happy. I will be a brand ambassador for NLC wherever I go and wherever I interact with people.
Wishing each and everyone a happy, healthy, peaceful, and wonderful life ahead. Thank you. Thank you all.
Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli is a very competent, committed person having a clear thought process. He has been very system-oriented, and moreover, he has been largely non-controversial. I did not find any controversy during the time he has worked with me.
I am sure that with the experience he gained in the initial days and later in the corporate office, that has helped him to take the role of ED at SECL and CMD at NLC. With each role, he excelled in his performance, and NLC has really achieved remarkable performance. It has also diversified its portfolio, which really proves the competence of Prasanna.
As a leader, I am sure that both the organizations, rather even including NTPC, will remember his contribution. Going forward, I am sure that wherever he will be, he will go on contributing towards the power sector and the mining sector with the experience he has lately gained. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors. Thank you.
