n a conversation with ET Now, Piyush Goyal, Power Minister, says he is very satisfied with progress of UDAY. Edited excerpts
ET Now: Are you satisfied with how the UDAY bonds are doing?
Piyush Goyal: This is now about six months of implementation of UDAY bonds in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and there were truly the ones which are making the highest losses. Personally, I am very, very satisfied with the progress of UDAY. In UDAY. we are not giving out money or doles or subsidies.
We have looked at a self regulation mechanism to permanently solve this problem and that can only happen when you ensure that people are not incentivised to go truant again. I am glad that the states have cooperated. The trajectory of losses this year will certainly be significantly lower than last year while it may not have resulted in game changing increase in power demand it was never intended to because at the outset we first want them to become stronger and then power demand or their ability to purchase power will be a natural outcome of improved deficiency.
ET Now: If I may ask you something which you also mentioned in your address earlier, the financial aspects by and large of UDAY have been taken care of. They have gone as planned but operational parameters are something which you flagged off personally as well. Perhaps there is something you are not very satisfied with. Who do you see are the best performers in UDAY so far on operational parameters and which states are remained behind.
Piyush Goyal: No by and large I would not like to get into the specific states because I am getting everybody on board in voluntary scheme and obviously each state has its own compulsions and local issues. It takes certain time for different states to come up to expectation.
But frankly if you ask me, by and large all the states have performed well. It is just that different states came on board at different time and then there are a number of states which are already performing very well.
Look at Gujarat. I remember one day I had got very angry at my officers. Why is Gujarat not joining the financial parameters and they tell me sir but there are no loans to join financial parameter. Total borrowing of Guajarat was some Rs 1800 crore.
Andhra Pradesh has equally done a phenomenal job. Rajasthan and Haryana are two loss making states. They deserve special mention for the fastest ramp up to come out of losses. They are very aggressive admissions and to my mind, these two states that will outshine all other states.
ET Now: The central assistance under the IPDS is also something which is an important part of making progress in UDAY. If I may ask you, you have got some states, you have got Uttar Pradesh, for example which has joined UDAY, they were the first issuers of the bonds as well, what sort of progress do these states like UP need to make?
Piyush Goyal: The government utilisation of funds and its proper reporting and recording is the integral part of any success of any programme. Under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, I have been urging all the states to ensure their systems are well in place.
There have been certain glitches in the initial period because over so many years they were so used to incomplete work and still getting paid that it is taking a little time for people to get used to strict adherence to the system but other than that I think things are alright. Varanasi the IPDS has taken off extremely well.
ET Now: Let us talk about something which is very close to you; the renewable space. If I may cite, you know, recently the WTO hearing on our domestic content requirements has gone against us how do you read this in terms of impact on our domestic content requirement program and how do you see that going forward?
Piyush Goyal: Right now, we have many cases on the United States for their domestic content requirement that they have been…
ET Now: So you are going ahead and filing them?
Piyush Goyal: We have already filed. We have filed, I think, six or eight cases against states in the United States which have been following almost similar domestic content requirement rules. That is a process that is underway, we have already filed the cases.
As far as Indian interests are concerned, we may have lost this case which as I have said earlier reflects very poorly on the global effort to address the impact of climate change and mitigate this problem but be that as it may, we will continue to support Indian manufacturers, we will ensure that everybody who manufactures in India will be competitive and will be able to get good business.
There are always ways to support them and we are exploring and examining jointly with Ministry of Commerce. We will shortly come out with our new proposals. Miami Dolphins Jersey
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