GMR Infrastructure has put the development of its Rs 7,000-crore power project at Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, on the backburner, thanks to coal shortages.

The company acquired this 1,370-Mw project from SKJ Powergen in 2009. It was to be commissioned in 2014. “Private power producers are so much bruised on Thursday, they do not dare to set up anything new. No one can put up any capacity in this kind of situation,” said A Subba Rao, chief financial officer of GMR.