India’s annual electricity demand fell for the first time in at least 35 years in the fiscal year to March, government data reviewed by Reuters showed, mainly due to strict coronavirus-induced lockdowns across the country.
Power demand fell 1% during the year ending March 2021, the data showed.
Demand for electricity has picked up since, and generation grew 23.3% in March from a year earlier, a Reuters analysis of daily load despatch data from federal grid operator POSOCO showed, making it the seventh consecutive monthly increase and the fastest since March 2010.
Power generation fell 0.2% during the year 2020/21, compared with the previous year, the POSOCO data showed.
Power generation in March grew much faster than the average increase of 6% in the last six months, mainly because India had imposed an intense nationwide lockdown in the last week of March 2020, resulting in a dramatic fall in power usage.
Electricity demand has been steadily increasing this year due to a pickup in economic activity and amid higher temperatures being recorded in March in northern India, which could have led to higher use of air conditioning.
