Modi’s Fading Renewables Vision Fires Up India’s Coal Sector
It’s a lesson in the power of state intervention to skew markets away from cheap, clean power toward costly, fossil-fired incumbents.
Coal-generation revival in India.
Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/BloombergOne of the world’s most moribund businesses is rising from the dead.
India’s private-sector coal generators largely quit building new power plants seven years ago, fleeing massive losses and the looming threat of cheaper renewable power. That appears to be changing. Companies including Adani Power Ltd., JSW Group Ltd. and Essar Power Ltd. are looking to invest in new and existing plants, Reuters reported this week, suggesting the capital strike is ending. That's an object lesson in the power of state intervention to skew markets away from cheap, clean power toward costly, fossil-fired incumbent businesses.