NEW DELHI: Rural demand is driving up India’s electricity consumption, backed by a 3.4% farm sector growth amid 23.9% contraction in GDP in the first quarter of the current fiscal. Primarily agrarian states in the northern and eastern regions are posting healthy growth in power consumption, while heavily industrialised states in the western and southern regions continue to falter due to sluggish recovery in industrial activity.
While farm activity largely remained unaffected by the lockdown, factors such as return of migrants to their native places buoyed rural demand. The humid weather also added its bit to boosting domestic consumption on all-India basis as people still largely remain indoors and work from home, prompting households to run air-conditioners for longer.
