A central government official aware of the performance of state utilities said on condition of anonymity that power utilities in some states have managed to cut down their losses significantly. Utilities in Rajasthan, for example, reduced losses by 54% in 2016-17 to Rs5,208 crore from a year ago. The UDAY scheme allowed state governments to take over half the outstanding debt of utilities in 2015-16 and another 25% in 2016-17. The remaining was to be refinanced by the distribution companies through state-guaranteed bonds, which would help them reduce interest cost. State governments have tried various options to turn around this segment including privatization and adopting a franchisee model to bring in efficiency.

Source: Mint July 25, 2017 18:45 UTC