Union Budget 2021-22: FM Sitharaman announces Rs 3,05,984 crore for power reforms

While announcing the budget on Monday (Feb 1), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government will launch a Rs 3,05,984 crore over 5 years to bring in reforms to the power sector in the country.

“The viability of distribution companies is a serious concern. A revamped, reform-based, results-linked, power distribution sector scheme will be launched with an outlay of Rs 3,05,982 crore over five years. The scheme will provide assistance to discoms for infrastructure creation, the inclusion of prepaid smart metering, feeder separation, upgradation of systems,” she said.

Sitharaman also pointed towards the monopolies of distribution companies across the country and proposed to put in place a competitive framework to give consumers alternatives to choose from among more than one distribution companies.

“The past 6 years have seen a number of reforms and achievements in the power sector, we have added 139 Giga watts of installed capacity, connected an additional 2.8 crore households and added 1.41 lakh circuit km of transmission lines”, added Sitharaman.

The Finance minister also announced the Hydrogen Energy Mission 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green sources.