Industrialist Gautam Adani
Adani Group has made a big announcement amid the ongoing unrest in Bangladesh. Regarding the supply of electricity to Bangladesh, the company said that the neighbouring country still has a debt of $800 million i.e. Rs 67 billion, but still we are not going to stop supplying electricity.
Gautam Adani has set up a 1.6 GW coal-fired power plant in Godda, Jharkhand, to supply electricity to Bangladesh. From where the electricity is supplied through a dedicated transmission corridor. According to information, the then Bangladesh government was paying a lot of money to Adani for this electricity. The Sheikh Hasina government was also heavily criticised for this supply. The monthly bill for the electricity generated from this plant amounts to between $90-100 million.
Adani Group had closed the deal then
We reported that the company had signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with BPDB in November 2017 during the tenure of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, under which 1,496 megawatts (MW) of power will be supplied from the plant, which will be the largest in the country, accounting for about 10 per cent of the peak power demand. With a total project cost of USD 2 billion, the Godda Power Project is the first international power project commissioned in India, where 100 per cent of the power generated is supplied to another country.
read this too
Electricity generation since June
This plant will generate electricity and supply it to Bangladesh by June 2023. As of June 30, Adani Power’s debt had come down to Rs 25,653 crore from Rs 26,545 crore on March 31. Finance costs for the quarter ended June 30 declined to Rs 811 crore from Rs 883 crore last year. Adani Power’s net profit declined 55.33 per cent or Rs 4,846.63 crore to Rs 3,912.79 crore in Q1 of 2024-25 while it was Rs 8,759.42 crore in Q1 of 2023-24. On the other hand, the company’s revenue rose 35.89 per cent or Rs 3,950.09 crore to Rs 14,955.63 crore, from Rs 11,005.54 crore in the same quarter last year.
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves are declining
Bloomberg reported on August 23 that Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves were running low, with gross reserves as of July 31 at $20.5 billion, enough to cover about three months of imports. The report said the interim government is seeking further loans from the International Monetary Fund beyond the $4.7 billion program to cope with these economic difficulties.