(FE)
State-owned non-banking finance company REC Ltd is evaluating to enter into the nuclear space in the next two to three years, with plans to lend to the public sector companies coming up with nuclear power projects, the company’s Director (Finance) Ajoy Choudhury said.
“Nuclear is another new opportunity for us to participate. This entails Rs 10-12 lakh crore opportunity. We would evaluate and in the next 2-3 years we could see something happening,” he said, adding that the company will focus on small modular reactors (SMRs).
Meanwhile, the company is also betting big on conventional thermal power projects financing as the government aims to increase the country’s thermal capacity in order to meet the rising demand. The government has planned to increase the country’s thermal capacity addition target to 95 giga watt (GW) by 2031-32 from 80 GW earlier in line with the power demand.
The company is also the modal implementing agency for PM Suryaghar Muft Bijlee Yojana and has witnessed 51 lakh applications so far under the scheme, further targeting to grow it to 55 lakh in FY26, Choudhury said. The scheme envisages to install rooftop solar power systems at 10 million (1 crore) households across the country by 2026-27.
The state-owned lender also plans to increase its portfolio in lending to the renewable energy sector including wind, hydro, solar, and green hydrogen projects to 30% from the around current 10% by 2030, with an aim to sanction loan to more projects in the private sector, it has earlier said.
The company reported a rise of 5.6% in its consolidated net profit for the last quarter of financial year 2024–25 at Rs 4,309.98 crore, against Rs 4,709.09 crore in the same period the previous fiscal. REC now targets to become a net zero NPA (non-performing asset) company by the end of current financial year 2025-26.
The company’s assets under management increased to Rs 5.66 lakh crore as on March 31, 2025 against Rs 5.09 lakh crore during FY24. Going forward, REC plans to double its assets under management to Rs 10 trillion by 2030.
The company’s Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs 2.60/- per equity share on a face value of Rs 10/- each for the financial year 2024-25.
The Board also approved the formation of a Joint Venture between REC Power Development and Consultancy Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of REC and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), under the Ministry of Heavy Industries in the shareholding ratio of 50:50. The joint venture will look for development of renewable energy and other power and infrastructure projects.
