India's NTPC rises after reporting higher quarterly profit

** India's NTPC NTPC.NS rises 3.7% to over one-month high of 328 rupees

** State-owned power company reports 14.3% rise in Q2 standalone profit to 53.2 billion rupees ($560.86 million), revenue rises 16.8%

** Citi Research says results demonstrates leverage to demand through higher utilisation, better fixed-cost recovery and selective merchant generation

** Citi lifts earnings estimates by 5%-6% for FY27-FY29

** ICICI Securities says renewable project commissioning remains constrained by transmission delays

** NTPC rated "buy" on average by 29 brokerage firms, median PT at 423 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, stock down 1.6%

($1 = 94.8551 Indian rupees)