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The company posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs ?244 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2026. Consolidated operating revenue rose 13% to Rs ?3,428 crore from Rs ?3,046 crore a year earlier View More
Indian stocks closed largely unchanged on May 7, after early gains, influenced by profit booking despite easing tensions between the US and Iran. Broader market indices like Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 showed gains, while sector performance was mixed. View More
India's power demand is set for a significant rise of 5.0-5.5 percent in 2026-27. This growth will be fueled by industrial, commercial, agricultural, and household sectors. Emerging sources like electric vehicles and data centers will also contribute. Thermal plant utilization will stay steady. Distribution companies face challenges with high debt and muted tariff hikes, impacting their profitability. View More
New Delhi: Rating agency ICRA on Thursday said power demand will rise by 5.0-5.5 per cent in 2026-27 as against a tepid one per cent growth in 2025-26, supported by continued momentum in industrial and commercial activity. The country's power demand growth in 2026-27 is likely to be supported by agricultural and household sectors given the expectation of sub-par rainfall amidst a potential El Nino, along with demand from industries as well as from emerging sources like electric vehicles and data centres, ICRA said in a statement. The all-India thermal plant load factor (PLF or capacity utilisation) level fell to 65-66 per cent in 2025-26 amid demand moderation and is likely to remain around 65 per cent in 2026-27, given the healthy growth in generation expected from the renewable sources and 6-GW capacity addition likely in the thermal segment. Ankit Jain, Vice President & Co-Group Head - Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said in the statement that the thermal power sector in India is witnessing a revived investment emphasis, even as the renewable capacity continues to expand at a rapid pace. Thermal power acts as a reliable base-load supply, aiding grid stability, amid expectations of power demand growth, he said, adding that the coal stock level for the domestic power plants has been comfortable at around 19 days as on April 8, 2026. Live Events The book losses of the distribution companies at the all-India level improved in 2024-25 over 2023-24. The gross debt for state-owned discoms reduced to Rs 7.1 trillion as of March 2025 from Rs 7.4 trillion as of March 2024, it stated. However, such high debt levels are unsustainable for discoms, given their current revenues and profitability, it pointed out. The tariff orders for 2026-27 have been issued in 17 out of 28 states as of April 2026, it noted. Despite the loss-making operations of discoms, tariff hikes approved for 2026-27 remain muted across most states, it pointed out. ICRA expects the cash gap per unit for the discoms at the all-India level could remain high at 30-33 paise per unit in 2026-27 in case of limited tariff hikes and increased power purchase costs amid addition of relatively higher tariff-based capacities, it stated. ICRA's outlook for the power distribution segment remains Negative amid limited tariff hikes and continued loss-making operations, it stated. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
A recent paper by India's former CEA Arvind Subramanian (and others) has claimed that India’s GDP is overstated. A similar claim was made by the author in 2019, but on different data. An analysis of both papers suggests that it’s about the same finding with varying statistics deployed to reach it. View More
Promoter Shareholding: The companies that recorded an increase in promoter ownership between the December 2025 and March 2026, Godrej Properties saw promoter holding rise from 47.2% to 51.7%, while Adani Energy Solutions witnessed an increase from 71.2% to 72.7%. View More
The government has approved ECLGS 5.0 to support MSMEs and airlines. This scheme aims to provide crucial working capital. Around 1.1 crore MSME accounts are expected to benefit. View More
The newly approved Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0 could potentially benefit around 1.1 crore MSME accounts, helping businesses tide over disruptions arising from the ongoing West Asia conflict, according to a report by State Bank of India (SBI). The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved ECLGS 5.0 to provide additional working capital support to existing standard MSMEs and certain non-MSME sectors, including airlines. The report noted, "our preliminary estimates indicate that ~1.1 crore MSME accounts (~45% of total MSME portfolio) will be eligible to get benefit from the scheme with per account an average additional credit flow of Rs 2 to 2.3 lakh." Under the scheme, eligible borrowers can avail additional credit of up to 20 per cent of peak working capital utilised during the fourth quarter of FY26, capped at Rs 100 crore. For airlines, the support can go up to 100 per cent, with a cap of Rs 1,500 crore per borrower. The government has targeted an overall additional credit flow of Rs 2.55 lakh crore under ECLGS 5.0, including Rs 5,000 crore earmarked for the aviation sector. Highlighting the likely impact of the scheme, the SBI report said, "The timely intervention will ensure liquidity support, protect jobs, sustain supply chains, and strengthen the resilience of the Indian economy." The report added that the earlier versions of ECLGS, introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, had played a key role in stabilising MSMEs and improving their financial health. SBI Research said the previous ECLGS schemes had helped prevent large-scale stress in the MSME sector, with at least 13.5 lakh MSME accounts saved from slipping into non-performing asset (NPA) status. The report further observed that MSME gross NPA levels declined significantly to 3.3 per cent in September 2025 from 11 per cent in March 2020, aided by support measures including ECLGS. The aviation sector is also expected to gain substantially under ECLGS 5.0 amid rising aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices and pressure on passenger traffic due to geopolitical tensions in West Asia. According to the report, outstanding bank credit to the aviation sector stood at Rs 526 billion as of March 2026, registering a 14 per cent year-on-year growth. The report stated that if the entire Rs 5,000 crore allocation for aviation is disbursed, it would amount to nearly 9.5 per cent of the sector's outstanding bank credit. SBI Research also highlighted strong MSME credit growth in FY26, estimating that MSME credit expanded by around 27 per cent, raising its share in total bank credit to 18.5 per cent. Live Events .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
Norway's Equinor told CNBC that the company expects the Iran war to deliver a boost to its transition industries. View More
In this article0NMK-GBEQNRFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT An employee works on core components of circuit breakers for wind turbines at Siemens Energy's Hangzhou Plant on February 28, 2026 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China.China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images The Iran war appears to have supercharged the clean energy transition, providing a catalyst for wind power giants as countries reassess the role of renewables in shoring up energy security.Danish wind turbine maker Vestas reported an unexpectedly large first-quarter profit rise on Wednesday, citing improved execution of its onshore and offshore businesses despite growing political uncertainty. Danish utility Orsted also posted stronger-than-expected profit through the first three months of the year, while Norway's Equinor, which is primarily an oil and gas major, told CNBC that the Middle East crisis is set to deliver a boost to returns in its clean tech division.Torgrim Reitan, chief financial officer at Equinor, said that the drivers behind the energy transition have clearly shifted amid the Iran war, moving from a focus on decarbonization to issues such as energy security, self-sufficiency and independence."In Europe, we see that there is clearly big momentum behind that," Reitan told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition." Equinor, which posted its strongest quarterly profit in three years on Wednesday, has three large offshore wind developments in the U.S., Poland and U.K., with the latter slated to become the world's largest offshore wind farm when it enters production. watch nowVIDEO3:4403:44Will take 6 months for Strait of Hormuz to return to normal - CFOEurope Early Edition The oil and gas giant joined its industry rivals in reporting bumper first-quarter results, benefitting from soaring fossil fuel prices since the U.S. and Israeli-led war against Iran began on Feb. 28.Analysts expect the fallout from the Iran war energy shock to prompt countries to direct even more investment toward clean energy resources â a trend likely to benefit companies with exposure to green tech."Our priority is to deliver the projects we have under development and beyond that clearly we will have to see significant return from that business to invest â but we do believe that what is going on now will actually help the returns in sort of the transition industries," Equinor's Reitan said. Energy transition Denmark's Orsted said events in the Middle East had reaffirmed the need to accelerate Europe's energy transition, highlighting the role of offshore wind in particular as a key component in this shift. "When we look at what's happening in the world, there's no reason not to switch gears in the energy transition towards renewables in Europe. Europe is spending billions every week on fossil fuel imports â but it doesn't have to be that way," Orsted CEO Rasmus Errboe said in a statement. "Offshore wind and other renewables can deliver secure, green energy and can significantly lower total system costs for households and businesses when deployed at scale," he added. Wind turbine equipment are seen before being shiped abroad at Lianyungang port in Lianyungang in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 14, 2026.- | Afp | Getty Images Orsted, which has struggled in recent years with soaring costs and supply chain disruption, has doubled down on its European businesses following resistance to U.S. wind power from the White House.U.S. President Donald Trump has a long history of mocking wind power, claiming at the World Economic Forum earlier this year that wind turbines destroy land and lose money as he took aim at the European Union's energy policy. EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra dismissed Trump's criticism as "nothing new" at the time, saying the region takes "a fundamentally different view" on the transition away from fossil fuels. Data centers Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen on Wednesday welcomed the firm's best first-quarter earnings since 2018, saying the better-than-expected result bodes well for the rest of the year. "We are in a much better place, probably than what we expected to be a few months ago," Andersen told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe," before seeking to highlight the benefits of electrifying the grid. watch nowVIDEO5:0005:00Vestas CEO: Energy crisis highlighting Europe's reliance on importsSquawk Box Europe When asked about whether the company is meeting with data center builders to discuss how renewable power can support the buildout of AI, Vestas' CEO said he was due to travel to the U.S. over the weekend "and not surprisingly, that is part of the journey as well." In what appeared to be a thinly veiled reference to Trump, Andersen said: "Just because one person in the world has a maybe wrong perception of what reality ⦠is, that doesn't take the rest of the community off the scale. So, things keep motoring."Not everyone is convinced that investors will buy into the idea that recent geopolitical tensions could materially accelerate the renewables investment cycle."Overall, while energy security concerns can reinforce the long-term case for renewables, we see limited evidence that the Iran conflict is driving a near-term step change in fundamentals," Tancrede Fulop, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNBC by email."Among the two, Vestas appears better positioned to benefit from any acceleration in renewable deployment, whereas Orsted remains focused on executing its existing project pipeline," he added. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
India's power distribution sector is undergoing a massive Rs 11.2 trillion transformation by 2035. Smart metering is shifting focus to measurable outcomes, enhancing reliability and enabling intelligence-driven operations. Digital infrastructure, automation, and AI/ML will be key. Over 10 crore smart meters are targeted by FY27, improving billing efficiency and reducing losses. View More
New Delhi: India's power distribution sector is poised for a major transformation, with an estimated Rs 11.2 trillion capital expenditure pipeline through 2035 set to drive the next phase of reforms, as the smart metering programme shifts focus from installations to measurable outcomes, Vivek Goel, Chief Engineer (Distribution Planning & Technology), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), said today. "The Rs 11.2 trillion distribution capex roadmap highlights the scale of transformation ahead, but the sector must now move from deployment to outcomes leveraging data, strengthening reliability and enabling intelligence-driven operations," Goel told on the sidelines of the 4th Smart Metering Conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Highlighting infrastructure capacity, he said the distribution transformer base currently stands at around 8 lakh MVA, which is critical for system reliability. He added that the number of service stations is expected to rise to around 55,000 by 2030 from about 45,000 at present. Goel said the roadmap includes expansion of digital infrastructure, increased automation, a sharp rise in SCADA-enabled towns and deployment of nearly 35 crore smart meters by 2035. He emphasised that interoperability across hardware and software systems will be essential to ensure scalability and prevent vendor lock-in. Smart metering, he said, must evolve beyond billing to enable advanced applications such as loss reduction, demand response, predictive maintenance and revenue optimisation through artificial intelligence and machine learning. Live Events He also stressed the need for capacity building within discoms to adopt new technologies effectively. "We have a strong push under Make in India, with a focus on indigenisation of power distribution equipment. We must move beyond smart metering alone. Over 6.5 crore smart meters have already been installed, and the Ministry has directed discoms to scale up AI/ML use cases from pilot stages," he added. During the event, Atul Kumar Bali, Executive Director, Power Grid Corporation of India and Director, National Smart Grid Mission, said reliable communication infrastructure remains the backbone of the transformation. Smart meters, he said, are critical for grid management, renewable energy integration , electric vehicle support and data-driven operations. On the sidelines of the event, Bali told ANI that nearly 1.5 lakh smart meters are being added, with the government targeting over 10 crore installations by FY27. He noted that key challenges include deployment issues in some states, consumer resistance and the need for better communication strategies. Concerns over billing accuracy are being addressed through awareness campaigns and the provision of check meters, he added. Stakeholders at the conference noted that states such as Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab are leading implementation, demonstrating improvements in billing efficiency, enhanced revenue realisation and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses. The conference also highlighted the growing role of smart meter data in energy auditing, demand forecasting and efficient grid management. Experts emphasised the importance of feeder and distribution transformer analytics in improving reliability and reducing losses. Discussions further underscored the need to enhance visibility of distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar, electric vehicles and battery storage, noting that AI/ML tools can significantly improve hosting capacity analysis and optimise network investments. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
