Private power plant developers have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to block the move to impose duty on import of power equipment following recommendation by a committee of secretaries (CoS).Private developers have cautioned that if the proposal is implemented it would adversely impact capacity addition planned by the private sector and lead to higher electricity tariff.“While we do welcome the initiatives the government is considering for encouraging domestic equipment manufacturing, we do believe that imposition of customs duty has serious implications on the cost structures and tariffs and can seriously impact the capacity addition programme being planned by the private sector,” Prasad R Menon has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently on behalf of Association of Power Producers. Menon is chairman of the group which claims membership of 12 private power project developers including Tata Power, Adani Power and Reliance Power. The government has taken various policy initiatives to encourage domestic power equipment manufacturing capacity. Public sector power equipment manufacturer, Bhel, and private players such L&T and Bharat Forge which are setting up manufacturing capacity to benefit from the government’s initiatives have sought imposition of duty on imported equipment to level the playing field for them.
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