Import Duty on Power Equipment on Hold: Shinde.

Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde formally declared that an import duty on power equipment has been pushed off until at least the 12th plan, after the finance ministry blasted the proposal placed before the Cabinet last week.

The duty, pushed by BHEL and Larsen & Toubro for all ultra mega power projects, failed to meet muster, thus allowing any new UMPP order to be imported duty free for at least the next two years.

Although the ministry got its wish in the duty department, Shinde has been relegated to declaring that India “could reach 62,000 mega watts of new capacity under the 11th plan,” a far cry from the original five-year target of 78,700 MW which will be missed because of extensive slippages.

While placing emphasis on the exponential improvement that 62,000 MW would be over the 10th plan capacity addition of about 22,000 MW, Shinde declared that future capacity addition plans would reach hundreds of thousands of mega watts thanks to improvements in domestic manufacturing.

Source : indianexpress.com