The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has appealed to the Telangana government to make the power and greenery norms more friendly to the industry in order to make it more competitive. It wanted the government to allow industries to set up captive solar power plants with capacities beyond 1,000 kVA.
“At present, anything beyond 1,000 kVA is not allowed. You need to depend on Discoms for power, where the tariff is very high,” CII Telangana Chapter Chairman Vagish Dixit said.
Stating that the tariff for the industry is so high that it could make it less competitive, he said that the industries should be allowed to produce more solar power or access cheaper power from private players. He also pointed out that clients of industries had been asking about the source of power, expecting the industries to use more green power.
Addressing the media here on Friday, he said that the industry should be allowed to get it (private power) at reduced wheeling charges. “We are not happy with the recent increase in power tariffs,” he said.
The industry body is planning to meet the power regulator, the Chief Secretary and other officials in the first week of August to discuss the issue.
“Power costs constitute up to 25-30 per cent of the costs incurred by manufacturing companies. It goes up to 50 per cent in some cases,” he said.
The problem for the smaller companies with 30–50 employees is still harder, as increased power costs could directly impact their profitability.
Greenery norms
The CII also wanted the government to ease the greenery norms and help the companies save costly land for industrial purposes.
“We appeal to the government to allow the companies to honour their greenery commitments in rural areas, far away from the industrial areas in urban areas,” he said.
“The cost of land is very high. After spending so much on land, companies are allowed to construct only in about 40-45 per cent of the area and allocate the rest for greenery,” he said, citing the example of China.
He suggested that the companies should be allowed to use 70-75 per cent or higher and mandate even 150 per cent of their area for green cover in rural areas.
Incubator
The CII is planning to set up an incubator for start-ups in Hyderabad. We have set up a small team to drive the initiative,” he said.
“We will also set up accelerator at the State level. We will establish a Centre of Excellence on Design and Intellectual Property Rights,” he said.
Published on
July 15, 2022
