India 2018

182 India 2018
Automatic Approval for FDI
Automatic approval (RBI route) for cent per cent foreign equity is permitted in
generation (except atomic energy), transmission and distribution and trading
in power sector without any upper ceiling on the quantum of investment.
Government of India has also allowed the FDI up to 49 per cent in power
exchanges registered under Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power
Market) Regulations, 2010, under the automatic route, subject to certain
conditions as laid down in the 'Consolidated FDI Policy' notified in June, 2016.
Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana
Government of India launched a new scheme namely "Deendayal Upadhyaya
Gram Jyoti Yojana" (DDUGJY) with the following objectives (a) to separate
agriculture and non-agriculture feeders for judicious rostering of supply to
agricultural and non-agricultural consumers in rural areas; (b) strengthening
and augmentation of sub transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural
areas; (c) metering in rural areas (Feeders, Distribution Transformers and
Consumers). The erstwhile rural electrification scheme has been subsumed in
DDUGJY as a separate rural electrification component and the approved outlay
of the erstwhile scheme has been carried forward to the DDUGJY.
Development of National Grid
National power grid in the country is being developed in a phased manner.
All five regional grids, namely northern region, western region, eastern region,
northeastern region and southern region have been inter-connected in
synchronous mode and total transfer capacity of inter-regional links in June,
2017 is about 75,050 MW.
National Electricity Fund Scheme
The National Electricity Fund (NEF) (Interest Subsidy Scheme) was set up in
2012 to provide interest subsidy on loans disbursed to the State Power Utilities,
Distribution Companies (DISCOMS) - both in public and private sector for the
loans taken from banks/financial institutions, to improve the infrstructure in
distribution sector. Under NEF scheme, interest subsidy would be provided
on loans taken by private and public power utilities in distribution sector for
non-Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and non-Restructured
Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) projects
now subsumed under Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)
and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) respectively. The
preconditions for eligibility are linked to reform measures taken by the states
and the amount of interest subsidy is linked mainly to the performance linked
parameters. The preconditions of eligibility are operationalization of State
Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), formultion of business plan for
turnaround of utilities, re-organization of State Electricity Boards (SEB), release
of subsidy by State Government to DISCOMs, submission of audited annual
accounts and timely filing of tariff petition.