New Delhi, Feb 7 (UNI) State-owned power producer NTPC Ltd today said that it will form a joint venture with Bharat Forge Ltd for equipment manufacturing, with an initial investment of 760 million dollars.

''NTPC is positioning itself in such a way that it becomes a source of raw materials used for making the equipment and for supplying the main equipment. We will sign a memorandum of understanding with Bharat Forge today,'' NTPC chairman T Sankaralingam told reporters here.

Bharat Forge, country's largest forging company, will have 51 per cent stake in the JV with the rest will be with NTPC, he added.

''The plant will start the production with castings and forgings used for power plants and then can go for large turbines and generators,'' he revealed.

The strategy would help to reduce the shortages of power equipment in the country which is a major bottleneck for additional power generation capacity in the country.

NTPC, which has an installed capacity of 27,904 MW and produces one-third of the country's electricity, plans to raise its capacity to over 50,000 MW in the next five years.

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