Adani restores power supply to Bangladesh as payments resume
NEW DELHI: Billionaire Gautam Adani’s power generation unit Adani Power Ltd has restored full electricity supply to Bangladesh as the country starts making regular payments, according to reports.
“We’re making regular payments to Adani and receiving power as per our requirements,” said Rezaul Karim, chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), on Thursday, a report in Bloomberg said.
He did not reveal the amount paid or specify whether earlier dues had been cleared.
Adani Power Ltd had halved electricity supply to Bangladesh from its 1,600-megawatt coal-fired plant in Jharkhand in November following a series of missed payments by Dhaka, which was grappling with a foreign exchange crisis and political transition. The company restored it after four month, about two weeks ago, according to BPDB data, the report said.
The full restoration of supply is expected to ease pressure on the national grid and help prevent blackouts during the peak summer months, when temperatures frequently rise above 38 degrees Celsius.
According to the report, dues that once exceeded $850 million have now come down to $800 million and are expected to be cleared within the next six months. The BPDB has also provided guarantees to Adani’s lenders to ease the company’s working capital constraints, sources said, requesting anonymity as the information is not public. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and its people on the neighbouring country’s National Day, saying this day “stands as a testament to our shared history and sacrifices, that have laid the foundation of our bilateral partnership.”
Bangladesh celebrates its National Day on March 26, the day in 1971 when the country till then a part of Pakistan declared its independence.
In a letter extending felicitations to Yunus and people of Bangladesh, PM Modi said, “The spirit of the Liberation War of Bangladesh continues to remain a guiding light for our relationship, which has flourished across multiple domains, bringing tangible benefits to our peoples.”
Yunus from his official handle on X also shared Modi’s message. Modi said India remains committed to advancing its partnership with Bangladesh, driven by the common aspirations for peace, stability, and prosperity, and based on mutual sensitivity to each other’s interests and concerns.
“Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration,” he wrote to Yunus.
Since the new interim government headed by Yunus stepped in following the ouster of the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, the ties between the two countries have seen a slump amid India’s concerns over the violence in Bangladesh, targeting Hindus and a rise of hardline Islamist forces there.
However, on Wednesday soon after paying tribute to Bangladesh’s fallen soldiers on Independence and National Day in Dhaka, Yunus embarked on a special China Southern flight and flew off to China for a four-day official visit.
Yunus’s visit to China, coinciding with Bangladesh’s strained ties with India, is aimed at, analysts say, delivering a message to India. Just a day earlier, India
sent across a message on the need for “mutual sensitivity to each other’s interests and concerns”.
