Energy Minister bats for lower power tariffs to boost investments.

Mumbai |  August 31, 2016 : Union Minister for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, Mr. Piyush Goyal has asserted that there is no shortage of coal anywhere in the country and the proposed trade union strike would not have any impact on the supply situation.  Speaking at a Global Investors’ Conference in Mumbai  late Tuesday evening, Mr. Goyal said “nation as a whole has sufficient supply of coal. Even if no coal is mined for the next 50-60 days, the power industry can be rest assured that they would get an uninterrupted supply of coal to keep their plants running”.

The Minister said creating sufficient power generation capacity, helping state discoms to turn around and making power affordable to all are the priority areas of the Government.  He said “we in the Government are focused on setting the policy aspect right rather than addressing individual issues”.

Mr. Piyush Goyal termed the UDAY Scheme as the game changer. “The initial impact of the UDAY Scheme has been on the financial side. Interest costs have come down and the results are encouraging” said the Minister adding that the states are serious this time in implementing power sector reforms.

The Minister  said the government was capitalizing on improved efficiency of the power sector value chain to deliver affordable, uninterrupted power.  “Affordability of power will be very important for the new industries to be set up and investments to flow into India.  Appetite for expensive power is not there” he added.  Citing the example of Punjab, which has a set a new, lower power tariff for the new industries being set up in the state, Mr. Goyal asked Maharashtra also to follow suit.  He urged the Maharashtra CM to consider a separate power tafiff window for new industries and other consumers to boost power consumption.

India’s power generation capacity has already crossed 300 Gw. Mr. Goyal said we can expand our generation capacity by over 50% through efficient utilization of existing and under implementation power infrastructure. He said “by 2020, India can double its power generation. That would give confidence and comfort to the industry, farmers need not be distressed and homes will not have to run dark”

Speaking about all round infrastructure development initiatives taken in the fields of road development, water transport, railways, communication and power, Mr. Goyal said the present government under PM Narendra Modi is focused on taking the “connecting India’  story, started by the Vajpayee Government to its conclusion by 2022.