Power Min Scindia: Rs 95K cr of SEB loans restructured

About Rs 95,000 crore worth of bonds have been issued towards debt restructuring of struggling power distribution companies, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said. The minister, speaking with CNBC-TV18 on a host of issues relating to the power sector, discussed the recently-concluded financial restructuring package (FRP) for four states -- Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu -- that took place.

Also read: Power offtake will improve post SEB rejig: Scindia“We mandated through the FRP that every year, there should be a tariff-setting mechanism in place,” he said. Several state discoms have been under acute financial distress and reached out to the power ministry to help restructure their loans.  Scindia said that further restructuring was on the cards for Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. “The cabinet has approved it. The states now need to speak to their bankers. We have also got a transitional financing mechanism at sub-9 percent [rate] already in place for them,” he said. The minister also made light of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi’s government’s recent decision to provide a 50 percent power subsidy to consumers and allayed concerns that it would weigh on discoms’ financial health. “As long the state exchequer pays the subsidy amount to the discom, they won’t be worse off,” he said, adding that state governments were vested with the power to provide subsidies as they wanted to.