New Delhi: Power demand in India surged in March as the temperature rose and the demand from industrial and commercial consumers soared, according to a Crisil Intelligence report released on Thursday.
The mean monthly temperature was 25.5 degrees Celsius, above the 30-year (1991-2020) normal of 24.71 degrees Celsius.
Western and eastern central India witnessed 1-5 heatwave days during the month. As a result, power demand rose 6.9 per cent, around 50 per cent higher than the full-year average of 4.3 per cent. In the western region, power demand grew 10 per cent over last year as several regions in Gujarat witnessed six days of heatwaves.
The report highlights that seasonally adjusted India PMI, a proxy to estimate the country’s industrial activity, grew from 56.3 in February to 58.1 in March, the highest in eight months. The latest reading showed a substantial improvement in the health of the manufacturing sector that was above its long-run average.
With nearly half of India’s power demand emanating from industrial and commercial consumers, expansion of relevant activities is crucial for power demand to continue growing, the report points out.
Higher cooling requirements pushed peak power demand to 235 GW, an addition of 14 GW from the previous fiscal. The effects of this surge percolated to the short-term power market as well.
The real-time market (RTM) volume surged 34 per cent year on year to 3,727 million units (MU). The share of RTM in total electricity volume traded on the IEX rose to a high of 33 per cent, compared with the average of 24 per cent recorded since its inception in June 2020 to March 2025. Despite the surge in volume, the average market-clearing price for March 2025 remained stable at Rs 3.93/unit vis-a-vis Rs 3.91/unit due to an increase in power supply. Power generation jumped 8 per cent year-on-year to 161 billion units (BU) in March, in line with the power demand. However, compared to the previous month of February, the growth was higher at 13 per cent. (IANS)
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