Discoms’ dues to power producers rise by 41% to Rs 90,577 crore at FY20-end

State-run electricity distribution companies’ (discoms) dues to power producers stood at Rs 90,577 crore at the end of March 2020, up 41% from a year earlier. About 88% of these (Rs 79,829 crore) were “overdues” with payment default of 60 days or more.

Though the overdue amount is expectedly lower than the February figure because the discoms clear large portions of dues in the last month of the fiscal, this time money paid by them in March (Rs 17,583 crore) was 19% lower than the value of invoices cleared in the same month in FY19, reflecting the additional stress of the discoms in the lockdown.