The Druk Holding and Investments, DHI, in a recent news release, has stated that its revenue increased by almost 14 per cent in the 2022 financial year. The revenue growth is over Nu 5.5bn more than the preceding financial year. In an exclusive interview with the BBS, the chief executive officer of the DHI said, higher sales of energy domestically and dolomite have contributed significantly to the domestic revenue. The CEO also said that DHI’s investments in foreign markets are not related to its investment in digital assets, cryptocurrency mining.
The DHI’s revenue grew from over Nu 40bn in 2021 to nearly 46 billion last year. According to the DHI CEO, Ujjwal Deep Dahal, the Bhutan Power Corporation recorded its highest revenue of all time, which contributed significantly to the increase in revenue.
On the other hand, the CEO added that the State Mining Corporation of Bhutan has increased its capacity in mining minerals, which also has helped improve the DHI’s revenue.
Druk Green Power Corporation on the other hand saw its profits drop by almost Nu 500 M in 2022.
“There is a dynamic between the generation company and the supply company, which is the BPC. So, when we see domestic consumption rise, automatically the export reduces and export to India reduces. So, in the recent past we have seen our domestic consumption rise. When we see that, we see a revenue decrease in DGPC, see there is a corresponding revenue increase for BPC.”
Despite increase in revenue, the DHI’s profit after tax reduced by almost Nu 2bn between 2021 and 2022.
According to the DHI’s annual report for the financial year 2022, the reduction in profits is attributed to the increase in its companies’ expenditure.
“The expenses increase because the activity or the business volume has increased. So, some of the major attributable numbers for expense increased have been in terms of higher import of energy and cost of service during winter. And as we correlate that with higher domestic consumption. So, that has contributed almost about 1.8bn from on our expenses,” said the CEO.
Meanwhile, the CEO said that over 17 million USD spent in overseas market is not related to its investments in digital assets. The annual report also mentions the DHI has started a DHI private limited company in Singapore.
“At this time, we have invested in real estate through the private limited company in Singapore and so, that is one of the investments. The other investments in the things in the international market are in terms of private equity, and in fixed incomes. So, and these are not in the digital assets.”
The CEO added that all the DHI’s businesses will adhere to the environmental requirements and that the DHI will leverage the country’s natural resources while building a sustainable economy.
Sherub Dorji
