New Delhi: India's power consumption logged a double-digit year-on-year growth of nearly 13 per cent to 126.16 billion units in January 2023, according to government data. The robust growth of power consumption indicates sustained momentum of economic activities in January.
Experts earlier said the power consumption and demand would increase in January due to the use of heating appliances, especially in the northern parts of the country, and a further improvement in economic activities. In January 2022, power consumption stood at 111.80 billion units (BU), higher than the 109.76 BU in the same month of 2021, the data showed.
Electricity consumption in January 2020 stood at 105.15 BU. The peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, rose to 210.61 gigawatt (GW) in January 2023. The peak power supply stood at 192.18 GW in January 2022 and 189.39 GW in January 2021. The peak power demand met was 170.97 GW in the pre-pandemic January 2020.
Meanwhile, India's output of eight core industries registered a 7.4 per cent growth in December 2022, against 4.1 per cent growth during December 2021, according to the ministry of commerce and industry. The production of coal, electricity, steel, cement, fertilisers, refinery products and natural gas increased in December 2022 over the corresponding month of last year. Index of eight core industries (ICI) measures the combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries, namely coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity.
According to the statement released by the ministry of commerce and industry on Tuesday, the eight core industries among coal comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Final growth rate of Index of eight core industries for September 2022 is revised to 8.3 per cent from its provisional level 7.9 per cent. The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April-December 2022 was 8 per cent (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last year, according to the ministry's statement.
According to the statement, coal production rose 11.5 per cent in December 2022 over December 2021. Its cumulative index increased by 16.4 per cent during April to December 2022 over the corresponding period of the previous year. Natural Gas production surged 2.6 per cent in December 2022 over December 2021. Its cumulative index increased 0.9 per cent during April to December 2022 over the corresponding period of previous year. (With agency Inputs)
