India’s NTPC Green Energy jumps 14% in trading debut, valuing company at $12 billion

By Manvi Pant

(Reuters) -Shares of India's NTPC Green Energy, the renewable energy arm of power producer NTPC, jumped as much as 14% in their trading debut on Wednesday, as investors bet on the country's growing clean energy needs.

The stock was up 12.4% at 121.35 rupees as of 12:27 p.m. IST, compared to its offer price of 108 rupees and valuing the company at 1.02 trillion rupees ($12.08 billion). It was targeting a valuation of $10.8 billion.

The broader stock market was flat.

"NTPC Green's robust and diversified portfolio, consistent revenue growth, and strategic importance as an NTPC subsidiary have led to a positive market revaluation," said Shivani Nyati, Head of Wealth at Swastika Investmart.

NTPC Green's profit nearly doubled to 3.45 billion rupees, and revenue grew over 35% to 19.63 billion rupees in the last financial year.

Its $1.2 billion IPO was the biggest in the country's renewable energy industry, as per Dealogic data -- was oversubscribed by more than twofold as investors flocked to the rapidly expanding sector amid the government's push to increase the usage of renewable energy.

India has been scrambling to meet its clean energy targets and has ramped up investments and expanded capacity. It has to spend $385 billion by 2030 to meet its targets after falling short in 2022, per Moody's Ratings.

That demand also helped NTPC Green's peer Waaree Energies surge 66% in its trading debut earlier this year in what has been a red-hot IPO market.

As of Nov. 13, close to 300 Indian companies had raised more than $15.5 billion in IPOs this year, nearly double the $7.4 billion raised in 2023, according to LSEG data.

The stock market has hit multiple record highs for most of this year, helping the appetite for public listings. However, the market has eased in the past month due to weak corporate earnings and an exodus of foreign investors. ($1 = 84.4400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)