NTPC is taking part (50%) in BIFPL, a joint venture to develop the Rampal coal power plant. The project will cause irreparable damage to the livelihoods of two million inhabitants living in and around the Sundarbans and depending wholly or partly on the forest for subsistence.

NTPC has had a bad record of managing its ash. A 2015 report of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) concluded that17 plants of NTPC generated 59 million tons of ash, but could utilise only 39%. Additionally, NTPC has been illegally disposing of waste water several times, as shown in this study.

The serious destructive impacts the Rampal plant will bring to the Sundarbans has already pushed some major institutions to avoid the project. Three large French banks have already publicly precluded investments in Rampal. Similarly, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) excluded NTPC from their investment portfolio on recommendation of its Council of Ethics, stating "there is an unacceptable risk that NTPC will contribute to severe environmental damage through the building and operation of the power plant at Rampal, including related transportation services".

NTPC is at the center of many human rights violation cases, most notably mercury poisoning that killed thousands of children and left many invalid. NTPC also displaces communities in violent, deceiving and corruption laden precess.

In fact-finding missions by both South Asians for Human Rights both and Transparancy International Bangladesh, instances of forced displacement, corruption and human rights violation were reported in connection with the construction of the Rampal plant. Intense and ongoing local and national opposition to the project continues.

NTPC has often been invovled is issues of corruption in India and when working on power projects abroad, like in Sri Lanka. Since April 2016, NTPC, along with other power companies, are being investigated for over-invoicing coal imports.