State Bank of India (SBI) has entered into tri-partite deal with the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL) with a view to facilitate e-payment service to make freight payment for coal supplied to its thermal power stations.

An official with HPGCL informed that under this agreement, Indian Railways will be ensured timely payment of advance coal freight. This would make certain that loading of coal rakes for HPGCL Power Stations would not be affected because of the unavailability of funds with the Railway department.

The e-payment agreement will facilitate HPGCL to make the advance payment through the letter of credit only 5 days in advance against the earlier15-day advance freight deposited by the corporation. This 10-day gap in the advance payment would help HPGCL to save around Rs 6 crore per year and bring down the cost of generation.

The official added that a similar agreement has also been inked with East Central Railways and South Eastern Railways. Presently the corporation is paying a monthly freight of nearly Rs 52 crore to East Central Railways and Rs 11 crore to South Eastern Railways in order to supply coal to Panipat Thermal Power Station.

Also similar deals are soon expected to be signed with Central Railways and South Eastern Central Railways.