Bihar becomes sixth state to join UDAY Scheme

Bihar became the sixth state to join Union Government’s UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) Scheme for financial restructuring of debt of power distribution companies.

In this regard, tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Bihar government, State Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs) and Union Power ministry.

Note: Bihar is the 6th state after Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat to become part of the scheme. It is second Non-NDA state after Uttar Pradesh to join the scheme.

Under the scheme

Bihar government would take over 75% or 2,332 crore rupees of the state DISCOM’s total debt of 3,110 crore rupees as of September 2015.

The balance 778 crore rupees outstanding debt will be re-priced or issued as state guaranteed DISCOM bonds at coupon rates of around 3%.

The debt restructuring of state DISCOMs will lead to annual saving in interest cost to the tune of around Rs 117 crore.

The financial restructuring of debt under this scheme will help Bihar to speedily provide power to around 160.60 lakh households in 1,152 villages that are still without electricity.

Current Affairs 23rd February, 2016
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