India's weak electricity demand signals more slowdown pain ahead

The weakening demand and generation also hurts an electricity distribution reform that sought to revive ailing power retailers

India is witnessing a listless growth in electricity demand, possibly signaling more slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy.

Electricity requirement from distribution utilities in February rose 1.3 percent from a year earlier and barely changed from January’s 1.1 percent, the weakest growth in two years, according to the power ministry’s Central Electricity Authority. Data for power generation, a proxy for demand, showed the weakness continued into March.

The trend points to a lack of appetite among factories and commercial firms -- who consume about half the country’s electricity -- ahead of government data on industrial production for February that’s due Friday. Uncertainty about