The Ministry of Power, in a statement, said, “Energy Shortage reduced from 4.2 per cent in 2013-14 to 0.7 per cent in 2016-17”. (Reuters)

The Narendra Modi- government on Wednesday said that the energy shortage in the country had come down to 0.7 per cent in 2016-17. The Ministry of Power, in a statement, said, “Energy Shortage reduced from 4.2 per cent in 2013-14 to 0.7 per cent in 2016-17”. The statement also informed that the energy shortage in the year 2014, when Narendra Modi had taken the oath as the Prime Minister was 42,428 million units (4.2%). This has come down to 7,595 million units in the Financial year 2017 (0.7%), it added. According to PTI, this statement was one of the 3 achievements of the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

The power ministry also said, “peak energy shortage in 2014 was 6,103 mw (4.5 per cent) which came down to 2,608 mw (1.6 per cent) in 2017.” PTI also quoted the power ministry as saying that India had turned the tables in matters of being a net importer of electricity to being a net exporter. According to the report, India had become a net exporter by exporting electricity of around 6,444 million units to neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar in the year 2016-17. The power ministry statement also informed that India’s total power capacity had increased by almost a third from the 243 gigawatts in March 2014 to 320 Gigawatts in March 2017.

The total installed capacity of the country had increased by 33.3% to 3,26,849Megawats till 2016-17, the power ministry said. According to the statement, India has also seen an increase of 40 per cent, which is more than one-third, from the capacity of 5,30,546 MVA in March 2014 to 7,40,765 MVA in March 2017. It was also reported that 26 states and one union territory had joined the UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) which seeks to turn around discoms. The power ministry reflected on the same and said, “Almost 85 per cent UDAY bonds have already been issued (Rs 2.32 lakh crore out of total Rs 2.72 lakh crore) leading to less rate of interest for DISCOMs. This has led to savings of nearly Rs 12,000 crore”.