Tangled Wires of State Electricity Boards

Tangled Wires of State Electricity Boards Angus Hone INDIA had in 1950 an investment of Rs 190 crores in power, of which Rs 70 crores was in the public sector. The First Plan added Rs 292 crores (260), the Second Plan Rs 525 crores (460), and the Third Plan Rs 1262 crores (1012), (figures in parentheses are of public sector investment). These sums have not been well spent. There is no evidence that India will attain an efficiently planned and financially sound -electricity supply industry until the State Electricity Boards are radically restructured. This process will be resented by the politicians, but, given the curb that an inefficient high cost power supply could impose on Indian growth in the next twenty years, it may be thought that the national interest should prevail The costs of accepting a radical solution are political and short-term, the costs of refusing to reorganise the electricity supply industry are economic and long- term. Can India afford to continue with such financially and managerially ill-favoured organisations as the majority of State Electricity Boards are? To pose the question is to answer it.