In a bid to relieve power sector from stress which has been reeling under high debt, the government will soon announce a major policy in the next couple of days. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that once this happens, the private sector will also start participating.
Jaitley said ”The big problem area for us is the power sector. I think that is an infrastructure issue which we are going to be addressing literally in the next couple of days. We have almost finalised an approach in that direction”. Power sector is one area of infrastructure which has remained unaddressed for so many years. He said “I think it needs to be tackled immediately and our current focus is literally on this area”.
Jaitley stated that though India is generating more power than it needs and having surplus resource, the generation companies are in difficulty because there are no takers of power.
The Cabinet at its next meeting may consider recasting Rs 4.3 lakh crore of loans of nine power distribution companies subject to states agreeing to cut down commercial losses, improve operational efficiency and raise electricity tariff over a period of time. Four states -- Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana -- account for nearly 70% of the accumulated debt in the power sector, which has hurt public sector banks.