India’s power sector: Prime candidate for overseas investment
India’s power sector is a prime candidate for attracting sizeable overseas investment into the country. Peak power demand is expected to jump a whopping 69% in eight years from 177 GW in 2018-19 to around 300 GW by 2026-27. Investment is needed in power generation, transmission, as well as distribution infrastructure. The sector needs as much as Rs 30 trillion spending over the next 10 years.Today, however, FDI in India’s power sector is low, slipping further from Rs 104 billion in 2017-18 to Rs 73 billion in 2018-19, after growing annually for three years. Indian private sector investments in power have also been declining.While a few profitable independent power producers (IPPs) and transmission utilities do exist, the sector’s profitabil.....