NTPC and Indian Railways sign Rs 100 billion contract

NTPC Limited has entered into a Rs 100 billion contract with Indian Railways (IR) for the transportation of coal from mines to all its power plants up to 2019-20. NTPC will pay the entire amount as advance to IR in three instalments. In return, IR is offering NTPC fixed prices for the rest of 2018-19 and 2019-20 and a preferential allotment of rakes. In a separate development, NTPC is planning to start biomass co-firing across all its coal-based TPPs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It plans to burn biomass such as scrap lumber, forest debris, crop residue, manure and some type of waste residues along with coal to generate electricity.