In a sign that after getting severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy is slowly returning to normal, the rate of decline in electricity generation over the past few months has slowed down in July.
According to data available with grid operator POSOCO, electricity production dropped by 1.8 percent in July compared to the much sharper fall of 9.9 percent in the June month before. The generation also dropped dramatically in April, when most parts of the country were in lockdown due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Although the pick in power generation and consumption is a positive sign of economic recovery, the troubling part is the July decline in the latter part of the month has continued at a much faster rate. The decrease in generation was only around 0.6 per cent in the first half, but after July 15 it rapidly increased to 3.1 per cent.
The decline in generation has also come at the behest of a pick-up in power consumption in the large populated states like Uttar Pradesh , Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.
Power consumption continues to remain slow in the industrial states of Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, indicating that things are still far from normal and both economic growth and a pick up in power consumption will take more time to materialise.
