In line with the depressed projections of economic growth, the Planning Commission on Wednesday lowered the target for power capacity addition during the 12th Plan period ending March 2017 to 88,000 Megawatt (Mw) from 100,000 Mw set earlier. Also, state power ministers raised concerns over 55 of the 89 thermal power generating units running on low capacity.

Every one per cent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) requires power capacity to grow by 0.9 per cent in India. Power is one of the eight core infrastructure sectors, which have a combined weight of 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).