India’s FY24 power demand to rise 7% amid strong industrial activity: Fitch

Amid robust industrial activity in the country, India’s power demand is expected to rise around 7 per cent in 2023-24 (FY24), Fitch Ratings said on Friday in its “India Power Monitor – 1HFY24”. In the first half of the year, the power demand grew by 7.1 per cent. However, FY24 demand will be lower than the 9.5 per cent recorded in FY23.

Fitch said that high power demand should keep thermal power plant load factors high. In the first 7 months of FY24, it was 68.7 per cent. “However, we expect coal import volume to remain modest, with higher local supply meeting a large part of the increased demand,” it said.