"There was a proposal by NTPC to approach the capital market but the finance ministry rejected it last week," Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on energy.
The power ministry had approached the department of disinvestment in August 2007 for approval for NTPC's FPO, which could fetch the company nearly Rs 6,000 crore to part-finance its expansion programme.
After the FPO, the government's shareholding in NTPC would have come down to 84.75 per cent from the present level of 89.5 per cent.
The power company has set an ambitious target to double its capacity to more than 50,000 Mw by 2012 from 27,904 Mw currently, for which it plans an investment of Rs 88,000 crore.
The company also plans to venture into nuclear power manufacturing and power generation in the hydro sector.
In 2004, NTPC had raised Rs 5,386 crore through an initial public offering (IPO) by way of fresh capital and also diluting the government's stake.
Meanwhile, the company is now looking to borrow over Rs 105,000 crore from domestic and overseas markets over the next four or five years to meet its ambitious target of adding 22,430 Mw by 2012.
"Of the Rs 160,732 crore fund requirement during the 11th Plan, Rs 55,224 crore will come from internal resources and the rest will be borrowed," a company official said.
Domestic borrowings are being pegged at Rs 45,199 crore while External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) are being tentatively pegged at Rs 60,309 crore.
NTPC owns 15 coal-based and seven gas/liquid fuel plants with a total capacity of 27,350 Mw. It also has four joint venture plants with a capacity of 2044 Mw.
