India’s power demand could see an uptick from August-end: Tata Power CEO

Representative image (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

India’s power demand is likely to see an uptick between August-end and October as the monsoons retreat and the festive season kicks in, driving up air conditioning and cooling demands, Praveer Sinha, CEO of Tata Power told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

He also said the company plans to scale its rooftop solar business from the current 20,000-25,000 installations per month to 50,000 per month by the end of FY26. "We are seeing increased demand in the rooftop solar business because of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. Tata Power has made remarkable strides in this segment. Our rooftop solar installations in 2024 were 1,000 per month, which went up to 8,000 a month in April this year and currently we are doing between 20,000-25,000. By the end of this fiscal, we will take it up to 50,000 a month," he added.

Sinha said the peak power demand would remain within a manageable range of 230-240 GW. “It is expected that the monsoon will go weaker in the month of August and once that happens, heat conditions coupled with humidity will increase power consumption. So, from August-end and until October, India’s power demand is expected in the range of 230- to 240 GW. But, most certainly it will not hit the highs of 250-260 GW as projected earlier,” he said, adding that the country has adequate capacity to cater to that requirement.

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India's peak power demand during the summer of 2025 was notably lower than anticipated. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had projected a peak demand of 270 gigawatts (GW), but the actual peak reached only 242.5 GW in June. This shortfall was primarily due to unseasonal rains and an early onset of the monsoon, which reduced the need for cooling and air conditioning across the country.

Tata Power Company on August 1 reported a net profit of Rs 1,060 crore for the first quarter of the financial year 2026. This marks an on-year rise of more than 9 percent from the Rs 971 crore net profit reported in the corresponding quarter of the financial year 2025.

On the Union government’s decision to implement market coupling in the day ahead market from January next year, Sinha said the move will help gradually reduce the regime of long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) that exists in India’s electricity sector.

“In the overall scheme of things, the trading that takes place through the three exchanges currently is not even 10% of how India buy electricity. Market coupling can help increase the share of power exchanges in the trade of electricity to 20-25 percent, as it should ideally be. It will help bring in more market players,” Sinha said.

“Today most of the power transactions are happening through long-term PPAs (25 years) or medium-term PPA (10-15 years). We need to get away from that,” he said.

Tata Power Company has a market capitalisation of about Rs 1,22,381.50 crore, and its shares have fallen nearly 12 percent over the past year.