Alstom T&D India Ltd is seeing nearly 30 per cent of its Rs 6,000-crore order-book moving slow because of the slowdown in the power sector, said Rathin Basu, Country President and Managing Director, Alstom T&D India.
The orders are booked for the next 18-20 months. Going ahead, one may see the backlog growing faster than new orders, Basu told Business Line .
Problem areas
There is a slowdown in both the generation and transmission sectors.
For power generation companies, fuel linkages, land acquisition and funding of projects are major hiccups. On the other hand, the State Electricity Distribution Utilities (Discoms) not being able to invest because of bad financial health is preventing investments in the transmission sector.
Alstom T&D hopes that after January 2014 when the Southern Grid is connected to the national network, States in the region will invest more in new transmission lines.
Work on the final lap connecting the Southern Electricity Grid to the national network started on October 12, 2012.
Currently, all regional electricity grids are inter-connected except the Southern. The Rs 1,930-crore project is being undertaken by PowerGrid Corporation of India Ltd.
DISCOM rejig
Basu said that financial restructuring of discoms is vital for the transmission sector. According to Power Ministry estimates, the transmission and distribution sector is likely to see an investment of about Rs 3 lakh crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.
“We would see investments coming, led by Power Grid,” Basu said.