New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS): An estimated 61 percent of Indian firms suffer above 10 percent shortfall in production due to power cuts, industry lobby FICCI said here Monday.
The finding emerged from a survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), titled "Lack Of Affordable and Quality Power: Shackling India's Growth Story".
The survey, done over the last three months, covered 650 large, medium and small industries in 20 states across the country.
Only three percent of the total sample were government-run units and two percent multinationals.
The study found no segment of industry pan-India safe from the negative impact of power losses and outages.
Overall, 32 percent of industrial units across India face power shortage of over 10 hours a week.
Thirteen percent of firms suffer two-five percent shortfall in production, 12 percent suffer 6-10 percent and only 14 percent, mainly in Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, suffer less than two percent production losses, assuming that the firms do not rely on power back-up to ensure continuous production, the report said.
Revenue losses owing to power cuts range between less than Rs.1,000 to above Rs.40,000. Even small and medium firms incur losses above Rs.40,000.
The survey reveals that companies in Gujarat incur low losses as power shortages are negligible in the state. Companies in Karnataka are in the IT-enabled services sector, which being less power intensive suffer less production shortfall as compared to electricity intensive sectors like iron and steel and aluminium.
The survey found that Maharashtra, which, like Gujarat, has a mix of both IT and manufacturing companies, does not suffer as acutely by power shortages as some of the other states.
Among the survey's recommendations for providing affordable and quality power to industrial consumers are increasing capacity of installed sources, implementing smart grids, operationalising open access for consumers, thus allowing them to choose their distributors .
The FICCI-BRIEF report also recommends stricter laws and penalties for theft and unsanctioned use of electricity.