Distressed discoms, high demand: What is ailing India's power sector?

Indian states and union territories (UTs) owe over Rs 1 trillion to the gencos and Rs 62,931 crore to the discoms

In 2022, India saw the worst shortfall in the supply of electricity in over six years. A Reuters report stated that areas from Jammu and Kashmir to Andhra Pradesh saw power cuts ranging from 2-8 hours daily in April.

The power ministry's data showed that Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Punjab and Bihar faced the worst power crisis. Most of it can be attributed to these state governments' promise of free electricity to the citizens.

These promises lead to delayed payments to the power generation companies (gencos) and the power distribution companies (discoms). According to the data from the