Adani seeks fresh lifeline for troubled $2-bn power plant

ADANI POWER is seeking fresh concessions from the Union government for its $2 billion coal-fired plant in eastern India, which is currently struggling with a payments backlog from Bangladesh, the only buyer of its electricity.

- RAJESH KUMAR SINGH & SHRUTI SRIVASTAVA

In August, the power ministry allowed Adani to sell electricity from the plant into India, but its location in a designated special economic zone, or SEZ, is hampering those domestic sales, sources said. Unless the trade ministry grants an exemption, they said, the power produced would be considered imported and subject to a tax.

As part of that request, the company is also asking to keep a waiver on customs duty applied to the imported coal that it uses to fire the 1.6-gigawatt facility, said the sources.

Without these concessions, the power becomes effectively impossible to sell to India's price-sensitive consumers.

Adani Power didn't respond to an emailed request for comment.