JOIN USAbsolutely baseless: Nirmala Sitharaman on coal shortage reports
The reports of coal shortage in India are completely baseless, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday in the United States quoting the power minister, days after a few states resorted to unscheduled load shedding due to crisis at power plants and several others cautioned about power shortage in the coming days.
“Absolute baseless! There is no shortage of anything. In fact, if I recall the (power) minister's statement, every power producing installation has the next four days’ stock absolutely available within their own premises and the supply chain has not broken at all," Sitharaman said at Harvard Kennedy School on Tuesday.
India is a power surplus country, she said, when asked by Harvard Professor Lawrence Summers about energy shortage and reports of reduced coal inventories in India during a conversation organised by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
“There are not going to be any deficiencies which may lead to any shortfall of supply. So that takes care of India's power situation.
“We are also taking fairly good amount of risks to see what the basket of energy is available for India, how much is based on fossil fuel and how much comes from renewable and we are always looking at ways in which it can be shifted in favour of renewable energy. So the picture is not of short supply, but it's also picture of newer components into the basket," she said.
Also read: Coal crisis: Denial won’t work
On the country’s economic growth, she said though the finance ministry had yet not come up with any estimates, projections by IMF, World Bank and other rating agencies said, it could be near double digit in the fiscal year 2021-22.
The minister said she expects the economic growth next year to be in the range of 7.5-8.5%, which will be sustained for the next decade.
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