High-powered group: NTPC Chairman & MD C.P. Jain (fourth from left) and Director (HR) K.K. Sinha (third from left) along with employees in Hyderabad

It's a late October morning, and I am at NTPC's training institute in Noida's Film City, chatting up the power giant's freshly-minted graduate trainees. Every year, the public sector giant hires 400-odd executive trainees, and this year's batch-of engineers, MBAs, and CAS-is even bigger at 430. At my request, about a dozen of them have been herded into a conference room and I-a private sector hack-am itching to ask them one question: Why NTPC? The initial answers are all predictable and, possibly, programmed: "It's the brand name," says one. "It's also the challenging work environment," says another. But probe a bit more, and the real reasons start to emerge. "In the private sector," says Navneeta Bhattacharya, "you don't have time for yourself. But here you have a life, and that too with benefits like well-protected townships." The 24-year-old means it. She chucked up a job with an Indian it giant to join NTPC.

The power major is the only state-owned company among this year's top 10 Best Companies to Work For. But the big question is, can NTPC always be relevant as a preferred employer? Possibly, yes. NTPC is one of the better run PSUs and that's no coincidence. When set up in 1975, it hand-picked the best engineers from other public enterprises such as the Indian Railways and BHEL. Therefore, there's a relatively high degree of freedom and accountability within the set-up. On the business side, it's the country's largest power producer, accounting for 19.1 per cent of the total installed capacity and 26.7 per cent of the total power generated in India. Its revenues rose from Rs 19,850 crore in 2003 to Rs 25,964 crore in 2004 and net profit from Rs 3,607.5 crore to Rs 5,260 crore during the same period. It expects to double its turnover by 2012.

But hasn't it been a one-sided game for NTPC? For one, it has been a monopoly till very recently, which explains the higher profits and revenues. But once the new private sector entrants get going with their big plans, the game will change forever. Reliance Energy, for instance, has already announced a Rs 10,000-crore project in NTPC's backyard, Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. Second, the external environment is fast changing with it, pharma, biotech and banking emerging as the hottest sectors, pushing even the best-run PSUs to the sidelines. Says a senior manager who has spent almost two decades at NTPC, "I would not recommend NTPC for young, aggressive fast trackers. They might end up getting disillusioned in 2-3 years time." But C.P. Jain, NTPC's Chairman and Managing Director, offers a counterpoint: "The organisation offers a stable career. You can't expect a quantum jump in growth."

That may change too. The company, which recently made its maiden IPO, is getting into several new areas like hydropower, coal mining, power trading and power distribution. "All this will keep our employees on their toes with new challenges," says K.K. Sinha, Director (hr). In fact, NTPC has already trained more than 100 engineers who are waiting to be posted, as and when the distribution contracts are awarded. "We are very happy to be here, and will stay as committed as ever," says Pradeep Chorghade, a Deputy gm who joined NTPC in 1981. But NTPC's challenge will be to keep its younger workforce, who will be more aggressive and ambitious than, say, Chorghade, happy.

INTERVIEW/C.P. Jain/Chairman & MD "We Offer Stability"

PSUs have always been preferred employers. Why? It has two elements. One, you feel secure in the job so there is stability. Two, an employee is not subjected to an individual's judgment (as in the private sector). The positive outcome of this is that employees are free of tension and so they are able to give their best to the organisation. But we have strict targets, and employees are committed to achieving them. Doesn't the lack of competition engender complacency? If there is no competition, a little complacency is natural. It again depends on how management looks at it. At NTPC, we ensure that employees are alert through hr tools like quality circles, benchmarking and job rotation. Isn't job guarantee a disincentive to best performance? It becomes a discomforting factor when you don't develop competencies and give employees challenging roles. There will be some underperformers in any organisation. However, we try to carry them forward and fit them in roles suitable for them.