After recording an annual growth of 1.3% in FY20, which itself was the lowest in six years, daily power demand in the country in the first six days of FY21 has fallen by a sharp 26% year-on-year (y-o-y), owing to reduced industrial and commercial activities in the wake of the spread of Covid-19.
Power demand had started to fall gradually since the beginning of March — in the first 15 days of the month, electricity requirement was 3.6% lower than the same in the year-ago period. However, since the beginning of the lockdown from March 24, demand started falling much more sharply, with in all days since then, the y-o-y fall being 20% or steeper (see chart).
