2 years, 10 months ago

Let us respond and not react to power scarcity

India’s early summer this year will likely be followed by an arrival of monsoon rains ahead of time, delivering relief from a heat-led power crisis. This suggests traders foresee an easing of the country’s power shortfall, though we may not have seen the last of our heat waves and peak demand has tracked levels of 200 GW in recent days, a point above which supply falters in many places. This idea follows a power ministry directive to the state-run Power Finance Corporation and REC Ltd to arrange loans for plants that use imported coal but are under financial stress. A pile-up of bad debt has ailed Indian banks for much of the past decade and RBI’s pandemic relief extensions might mask an asset quality drop that is yet to show up.

Live Mint

Discover Related