The quantum of loan offered to states through PFC/REC may be increased from the current Rs.90,000 crore to Rs.1,25,000 crore, according to a report by ICICI Securities.
This is being done in order to support the additional stress on power sector due to Covid-19 lockdown, which resulted in further deterioration of the financial condition of discoms. As against the earlier quantum which was likely to support the states to clear their dues till Mar’20, the enhanced quantum will help support states’/UT’s dues till June 2020.
| Sanctions & Disbursements of Loans by PFC/REC | ||||
| Discom | State | Loan Amount (Rs.crore) | ||
| Sought | Sanctioned | Disbursed | ||
| APEPDCL | AP | 2,100 | 2,100 | 850 |
| APSPDCL | AP | 4,500 | 4,500 | 1,492 |
| PSPCL | Punjab | 4,000 | 4,000 | 0 |
| AVVNL | Rajasthan | 1,052 | 1,052 | 0 |
| JVVNL | Rajasthan | 1,028 | 1,028 | 0 |
| JdVVNL | Rajasthan | 1,984 | 1,984 | 0 |
| MSPDCL | Manipur | 124 | 112 | 0 |
| MSEDCL | Maharashtra | 5,000 | 5,000 | 2,500 |
| UPCL | Uttarakhand | 800 | 800 | 0 |
| TSSPDCL | Telangana | 7,197 | 0 | 0 |
| TSNPDCL | Telangana | 5,455 | 0 | 0 |
| List of discoms is not exhaustive Source: I-Sec |
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It is also expected to give more flexibility to states on usage of funds to revive their discoms. Till date, Rs.20,000 crore has already been approved. In terms of disbursements, Rs.4,800 crore has been disbursed to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, while the total loan application quantum currently stands at Rs.97,700 crore.
DDUGJY-IPDS merger: The minister also informed that a new scheme will soon be announced after merging Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), where, union government’s funding to states will be made conditional.
Those states/UTs whose discoms are not in loss will receive the funds without any conditions but states/UTs whose discoms are in loss will have to give a proper plan for time-bound reduction in losses in order to receive the funds.
Additionally, states/UT will get some more flexibility in the new scheme to enable them to plan according to their specific needs. The budgeted estimates for DDUGJY/IPDS for FY21 are Rs.4,500 crore/Rs.5,300 crore, while the actual expenditure on the schemes in FY19 was Rs.3,800 crore/Rs3,900 crore, respectively.
The objective of the scheme includes:
- Improve quality and reliability of power supply
- Improve financial and operational performance of discoms
- Reduce AT&C losses to 12-15 per cent
- Reduce ACS-ARR gap to zero by FY25
Union government may also grant consultancy support for various activities along with linking fund release to performance of states against their action plans.
