Industry leaders to meet PM on power sector woes

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NEW DELHI: A high-level delegation of 18 top corporate leaders, including Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, is likely to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to discuss various issues concerning the power sector. “Acute fuel shortages, pricing issues related to imported coal for power projects, delay in environment and forest clearances, funding problems and worsening health of power distribution companies or discoms would be part of the agenda for the meeting with the Prime Minister,” sources said.

A proposed duty on imported power equipment would also figure in the discussions, the sources close to the development added. The delegation of eighteen private power sector executives would be led by Tata Power Chairman Ratan Tata. Ahead of the meeting, various industry leaders including Reliance Power Chairman Anil Ambani, Essar Group CEO Prashant Ruia, Hinduja Group Chairman Ashok Hinduja and Sterlite Energy’s Anil Agarwal were likely to meet here on Tuesday to discuss the agenda.

Other members of the delegation include Tata Power Deputy Chairman Cyrus Mistry, Adani Power Chairman Gautum Adani, JSW Energy Chairman Sajjan Jindal, GMR Energy Chairman GM Rao and Lanco Infratech Chairman L Madhusudan Rao.

Besides the Prime Minister, others expected to be present at the meeting include the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterjee and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. All the participating companies in the delegation are part of the Association of Power Producers, whose 21 members account for over 95 per cent of power capacity in the private sector. “We are very positive and hopeful that satisfactory resolution would be found to all the issues facing the power sector,” Association of Power Producers (APP) Director General Ashok Khurana said.

The proposed meetings of the top executives with the Prime Minister and others come against the backdrop of fuel shortages and various other problems hurting the power sector. Many financial institutions are reported to be reluctant in lending to power projects. Presently, the private power companies have a capacity of around 24,000 MW. The private power producing companies are also reeling under huge debt as various banks and financial institutions refuse to give more debt to them. This has resulted in mounting losses and the companies want relief. PTI