Liquidity infusion for discoms: Overdues fall Rs 15k cr in March

According to data released by PFC Consulting Ltd, the outstanding overdue of power distribution companies (discoms) decreased by Rs 15,118 crore and stood at Rs 74,510 crore in March this year, compared to the preceding month, primarily due to the release of the second tranche of liquidity infusion package. The overdue amount stood at Rs 89,628 crore in February. Power producers give 45 days to power distribution utilities (discoms) to pay bills for the electricity supply. After that, the outstanding dues become overdue, and generators charge penal interest on that in most cases. In May last year, the government announced a Rs 90,000 crore liquidity infusion for discoms under which these utilities would get loans at economical rates from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and REC Ltd. This was a government initiative to help generation companies (gencos) to remain afloat. Later, the liquidity infusion package was increased to Rs 1.2 lakh crore and further to Rs 1.35 lakh crore. Under the liquidity package, the PFC and REC together have disbursed Rs 78,855 crore so far. Overdue of discoms reduced significantly in March 2021, after PFC and REC began releasing the second tranche of disbursements under discom liquidity package in February this year, the data on the PRAAPTI portal said. PFC Consulting Ltd is a division of state run Power Finance Corporation (PFC), which maintains the Payment Ratification and Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators (PRAAPTI). The PRAAPTI portal was launched in May 2018 to bring in transparency in power purchase transactions between generators and discoms. It captures monthly invoicing data from power generators, which is uploaded from time to time on it by the power generators themselves. The overdue amount as a multiple of average monthly billing also showed a marked improvement, from 5.1 times in February to 4.6 times in March 2021. Among individual states, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar and Manipur have improved their overdue situation in March compared to February 2021. Image Source Also read: Power gen and consumption see uptick in March: Care Ratings Also read: Ministry of Power: Discoms owe Rs 12.3k cr to RE companies