OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'BBB-' long-term issue rating to a proposed drawdown of rupee-denominated offshore bonds for funding renewable projects, commonly known as "green masala" bonds, by NTPC Ltd. (BBB-/Stable/--). The drawdown is under the company's US$4 billion senior unsecured U. S. dollar-denominated medium-term notes program. The issue rating is subject to our review of the final issuance documentation.

We expect India's transparent regulatory environment for power and NTPC's strong market position and increasing generation capacity to support the company's business risk profile. Execution risk, increasing leverage, and the weak credit quality of NTPC's customers--state-owned electric utilities--offset these strengths.