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Enron debacle: Little impact on Dabhol Power

BS Corporate Bureau

Enron Corporation's voluntary petition for Chapter 11 reorganisation is unlikely to have any impact on Dabhol Power Company, Enron's Indian arm said in Bombay on Monday.

"DPC is an Indian company with a separate legal entity in which Enron is one of the four independent shareholders from India and the US. Therefore, DPC functions independently. We are currently reviewing the project to determine how to proceed further to resolve the dispute," DPC said in a statement.

This statement assumes significance since the total exposure of the Indian banks and financial institutions to DPC is around Rs 61 billion.

The Industrial Development Bank of India has the maximum exposure of around Rs 23 billion followed by State Bank of India with Rs 18 billion and ICICI with Rs 17 billion. Besides, the Industrial Finance Corporation of India and Canara Bank also have exposure to the project.

Enron has a 65 per cent stake in DPC, while the other foreign investors are Bechtel Enterprises and General Electric with 10 per cent stake each. The Maharashtra State Electricity Board has the remaining 15 per cent stake in the company.

IDBI, the lead FI, is in the process of bringing in a suitor to replace Enron. Two local power majors - Tata Power and BSES - have shown interest in the project.

This could provide the much-needed comfort to domestic and overseas FIs which have committed huge funds to DPC. IDBI, ICICI and SBI have huge exposures to the controversial power project in Maharashtra. Powered by

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