While the government may have succeeded in improving the availability of electricity in India, the lack of focus on other areas, such as distribution losses and timely payments, can delay the revival of the power sector.
The aggregate technical and commercial losses (AT&C), which reflects transmission and collection efficiency, stood at 19.72% of electricity purchases, according to the latest government data for 26 states. The Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana, a scheme targeted to turn around the moribund power distribution companies (discoms), had targeted to reduce these losses to 15% by the end of 2018-19.
The scheme did yield some benefits. All India AT&C losses before the introduction of the scheme amounted to 22% in FY14.
