Power Grid Corporation of India would not be impacted much by the probable restriction of Chinese equipment in the Indian power transmission sector. On the sidelines of a recent company press meet in Mumbai, I.S. Jha, Chairman & Managing Director, PGCIL, when asked about the possible effects of the government’s attempt to curtail Chinese equipment in the Indian power transmission sector, said, “I don’t think this is going to impact us much.”
The Indian government, as it has been widely reported, is considering disallowing Chinese equipment in the Indian power sector. It plans to impose restrictions in the power transmission sector to begin with, followed by power generation and distribution. The proposed move is in response to China’s policy of not allowing foreign companies in its power sector. Reports go on to suggest that the Indian government will not permit imports of power transmission-related equipment from countries that do not allow imports of Indian equipment. India thus is planning to follow the principle of reciprocity.
I.S. Jha went on to explain that if such a ban was considered around three-four years ago, the situation would have been different. “If you had asked this question 3-4 years ago, I would have had a different answer,” was how the PGCIL CMD put it.
Currently, if the equipment to be sourced is of rating up to 400kV, PGCIL goes in for domestic bidding. Of course, if there is multilateral funding involved, PGCIL is often required to float international tenders. Global bidding comes in the picture when the equipment is of extra high voltage (EHV), which is of or above 765kV rating. “Only when equipment was 765kV, we went in for global bidding because India did not have the desired manufacturing capacity,” Jha explained. However, domestic capacity even for EHV equipment has significantly improved over the recent past, the top PGCIL official noted.
It is pertinent to observe that domestic equipment manufacturers have never complained about Chinese equipment per se but have been wary of equipment sourced from China. Thanks to export benefits from their government, the landed price of imported Chinese products are much lower than equipment locally produced in India. Industry body IEEMA has often mentioned that it has only sought level-playing field for its members, implying that it had no reservations against Chinese companies setting up shop on Indian soil. I.S. Jha also mentioned that leading Chinese EHV transformer manufacturers like BTW, TBEA and Hyosung have set up manufacturing facilities in India. “Major equipment is now coming from Indian companies. Even Chinese companies participate through their Indian outfits,” observed Jha. All the same, sourcing equipment from China has proved cost-effective in some cases. I.S. Jha brought gave the example of insulators that are generally available from Chinese suppliers at a lower cost than Indian counterparts.
