UDAY fails to power discoms in laggard states

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, J&K and Chhattisgarh are among such states

The Union power ministry’s flagship programme UDAY has not improved the finances of power distribution companies in laggard states.

Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Jammu & Kashmir are among eight states whose aggregate transmission and commercial (AT&C) losses have gone up after they joined the debt-restructuring scheme. Twenty-six states have joined UDAY so far. A higher percentage of AT&C losses indicates the poor health of the power supply and distribution infrastructure.

In a press release in July, Union government-owned Power Finance Corporation had said: “Under UDAY, power purchase cost, AT&C losses and interest cost have all started decreasing,