Decline in India's Electricity Production

By Jeffrey Landsberg


As we discussed in our most recent Weekly Dry Bulk Report, India produced only 109.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last month which is down month-on-month by 10.4 billion kilowatt hours (-9%) and down year-on-year by 1.2 billion kilowatt hours (-1%).  The weakness has come as a surprise.  Electricity production had previously grown on a year-on-year basis for  seven straight months.

India’s coal-derived electricity generation totaled 88.1 billion kilowatt  hours last month.  This has marked a month-on-month decline of 5.2 billion kilowatt hours (-6%) and is down year-on-year by 1.7 billion kilowatt hours (-2%).  Coal derived-electricity generation had previously increased on a year-on-year basis during six of the prior seven months.

India’s hydropower output totaled approximately 16.3 billion kilowatt hours last month.  This has marked a month-on-month decline of 5.7 billion kilowatt hours (-26%) but is up year-on-year by 3.2 billion kilowatt hours (24%).  It is very normal for hydropower output to decline by a large amount on a month-on-month basis in October.  India's hydropower output has now grown on a year-on-year basis during ten of the last twelve months.