CHENNAI : India’s power distribution companies (discoms) recorded a sharp decline in overdues to electricity generators (gencos) in March 2021, data from the Union power ministry’s PRAAPTI portal shows. The most recent updates on the portal, which tracks the payment dues of India’s discoms, shows that they have cleared a massive Rs 33,720 crore of overdues in March 2021, more than double the Rs 14,684 crore paid in February 2021. Total overdues have consequently fallen to Rs 89,982 crore from Rs 1,01,432 crore at the end of February.
Excluding payables which are disputed, overdues fell from Rs 84,478 crore to Rs 67,417 crore. On a year-on-year basis, however, they still remain higher than Rs 86,067 crore at the end of March 2020. When peak nation-wide lockdowns were in force last year (between April and June 2020), payments from discoms to gencos had tailed off sharply. With a large portion of the economy inactive, demand dived and discoms struggled; compared to the Rs 17,611 crore paid in March 2020, April 2020 saw them pay just Rs 4,697.58 crore—a 73 per cent plunge.
May and June 2020 also saw far fewer payments too, at Rs 6,472 crore and Rs 8,886 crore respectively. The result was that dues mount ed shar ply—f rom Rs 78,781.53 crore (including disputes) at the end of March 2020 to Rs 1,03,440 crore at the end of June 2020, PRAAPTI shows. Things improved in the following months, though, and the Centre’s Rs 1.35 lakh crore liquidity assistance package, disbursed gradually via loans from sector financiers PFC and RE C, began to take an effect.
However, while payouts recovered beginning July 2020, overdues remained stubbornly above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark. Until March 2021, that is. A senior state discom official said that while the loans from PFC and REC have helped, collections had also improved significantly during the second half of the financial year 2020- 21: “The first quarter (of FY21) saw a very high deterioration in collections… things improved after lockdowns”. According to ICICI Securities, around Rs 75,500 crore has been disbursed to states under the liquidity scheme as of the end of March 2021, with most of the rest sanctioned.