India's massive power deficit almost wiped out in 2020-21, says Ministry of Power
Nov 08, 2021
New Delhi [India], November 8 : The massive power deficit in the country almost wiped out in 2020-21, said the Ministry of Power on Monday.
According to the ministry, India had a massive power deficit of -16.6 per cent in 2007-08. Even in 2011-12, it was -10.6 per cent. Through the multi-pronged, comprehensive and aggressive interventions of the government, this deficit is near about wiped out, consistently over the last 3 years: -0.4 per cent in 2020-21, -0.7 per cent in 2019-20 and -0.8 per cent in 2018-19.
The current year, up till October, it has been -1.2 per cent; the marginal spike being attributable to the annual post-monsoon pressure on power output, said the ministry, adding that this is also likely to normalize by the end of the year.
As per the ministry, this transformation from an acute power deficit country, to a situation of demand being met, except for an extremely marginal shortfall of less than 1 per cent, has been made possible by the following schemes brought in by the current Government to address the unhappy situation.
The ministry stated that the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), was brought in on 25th July 2015 for infrastructure push in the rural sector - setting up of transmission and sub-transmission systems. The Integrated Power Development Scheme ( IPDS ), was brought in on 20 November 2014 to fill in power infrastructure gaps in urban areas, it said.
The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) scheme launched on 25th September 2017, had the vision to take electricity to every household (willing) and has been able to supply electricity connections to 2.8 to crore households which were hitherto in the darkness.
The augmentation to the installed power capacity in the country, consequent to these efforts, has been 155377 MEGAWATT in the last approximately 7 years.
