State-run hydro power producer NHPC reported 29 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 212 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 .
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 301 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
Net sales of the company, however, grew 22 per cent to Rs 862 crore compared to Rs 709 crore in the same period last fiscal, NHPC said in a filing to BSE.
The company witnessed rise in its employee cost and other expenditure.
Employee cost of the company increased to Rs 228 crore as against Rs 182 crore in the same period of the last financial year. Also the company reported an over two-fold jump in its other expenditure at Rs 275 crore from Rs 119 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.
NHPC expects to commission over 15,000 MW capacity in the 12th Plan period (2012-2017), which is under various stages of execution. Its current installed capacity is 4,502 MW.
The company is battling various hurdles at its project sites, including Subansiri in Assam. The project has been stuck due to opposition from the local people and the company has urged the Centre and the state government to help resume work on those sites.
NHPC is constructing the Lower Subansiri project, the biggest hydroelectric project undertaken in India so far, which is located near North Lakhimpur on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.