Yet another commandment

India's power regulators have steadfastly prevented any competition in supply of power to consumers

Thou shalt respect the sanctity of contracts’ seems the commandment emerging from the recent Supreme Court judgment that denies compensatory tariffs for meeting the increased costs of coal imported by Tata and Adani power projects. This casts an ominous shadow on the future of these two mega projects of about 4,000 Mw each — among the largest in the world. It will also have a significant bearing on the way we treat infrastructure projects in India.

I happen to be one of those not surprised by the judgment. After all, the tariffs were determined through open competitive bidding where all