NLC India

Lignite deposit was found by chance when some 'brown substance' gushed out with water in Rao Bahadur M. Jambulingam Mudaliar's 620 acre own farm artesian well during 1934. He acted swiftly and contacted the then British Raj, which sent geologists to Neyveli. It was later identified as 'Lignite'. He generously extended substantial portion of the sprawling land-bank for soil exploration. Through his effort and donated his 620 acres land to the Madras Government.

NLC has been a forerunner in the country in the energy sector for 62 years, contributing a lion's share in lignite production and significant share in thermal power generation. It was inaugurated by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956.

NLC operates four opencast lignite mines of a total capacity of 30.6 million tonnes per annum at Neyveli and Barsingsar; Six lignite based pithead thermal power stations with an aggregate capacity of 3640 MW – at Neyveli and Barsingsar; and a 1000 MW coal based thermal power Station at Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu through its subsidiary, NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited , a joint venture between NLC and TANGEDCO . NLC recently commissioned a 1x500 MW unit at Neyveli which is also Asia's largest lignite fired boiler.

NLC has also forayed into renewable energy sector with commissioning of a 141 MW Solar Photo Voltaic Power Plant including 1 MW rooftop project at Neyveli and a 51 MW wind energy plant at Kazhuneerkulam village of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. The company is also setting up 1209 MW Solar Power Projects at Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu, of which, 300 MW have been commissioned. NLC is aiming to achieve a total renewable energy capacity of 4251 MW.

NLCIL has a target of becoming a 20,000+ MW company by 2025. Works are under progress for the lignite based Neyveli New Thermal Power Plant , Bithnok TPS and Barsingsar TPS Expansion . Further, NLC, jointly with the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited , is setting up a 3x660 MW coal based thermal power plant at Ghatampur in Uttar Pradesh, through its subsidiary company Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Limited . Apart from the above, the addition of thermal capacity to the tune of 6040 MW by way of installation of new plants and acquisition of power assets to the tune of 3000 MW is in the pipeline.

NLC has also contributed significantly to the socio-economic development for more than half a century.

The Business portfolio of the company is as under: