Telangana, Assam join Uday discom debt scheme

With Telangana and Assam joining the central government's Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY) and Tamil Nadu coming on board next week, over 90 per cent of the debt of state electricity distribution companies will be covered by the debt restructuring scheme for discoms, an official statement said on Wednesday.

"An overall net benefit of approximately Rs 6,116 crore to Telangana and Rs 1,663 crore to Assam will come from joining the scheme," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said at an event here.

"With these two states coming on board, states with over 90 per cent of total discom debts to be covered under UDAY after Tamil Nadu comes on board," he said.

With Telengana and Assam, the total number of states covered under the Uday scheme have reached 20, a Union Power Ministry statement said here.

According to the statement, the Telangana government will take over Rs 8,923 crore of the total Rs 11,897 crore of discom debt.

The Assam government will take over Rs 928 crore out of total Rs 1,510 crore discom debt, being 75 per cent of their respective discom debt outstanding as on September 30, 2015, as envisaged in the scheme, and the balance debt would be re-priced or issued as state-guaranteed discom bonds.

States and discoms collectively have issued bonds worth Rs 1.83 lakh crore so far to pay off their accumulated debt.

Goyal also said the power ministry is planning schemes to reward states for their performance on various parameters under the UDAY scheme.

"The time has come for some reward schemes. The states and discoms which have done well should be rewarded," Goyal said, while addressing the launch here of the UDAY Web Portal and Mobile App.

--IANS

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