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Published : 03 May 2025, 12:47 AM
India’s Adani Power is optimistic about recovering the full amount owed by Bangladesh for electricity supplied under a cross-border agreement.
Quoting Dilip Jha, the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), Reuters reported on Thursday that Bangladesh has “substantially” reduced its outstanding dues, and Adani remains confident of receiving the remaining $900 million.
Adani has been pressing for full payment since it signed a deal with Bangladesh in 2017 to supply power from its coal-based plant in Jharkhand.
Last year, it halved electricity delivery to push for payment of arrears.
Jha, however, said the company is now delivering power at full capacity, as recent payments have included part of the backlog.
"We are supplying full power to Bangladesh ... the payment we are receiving now is more than the monthly billing," he told Reuters.
"We are hopeful that not only will we continue to receive payments equivalent to the current month's billing, but that the old outstanding dues will also be liquidated," the CFO added.
According to Adani Power, Bangladesh has paid $1.2 billion out of a total of $2 billion so far.
The Indian conglomerate, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, struck the deal in 2017 to export power from its 1,600MW coal-fired plant in Jharkhand.
The two units of the plant were supplying power to Bangladesh until October last year when Adani cut deliveries by half after dues crossed $850 million following the fall of the Awami League government.
Reuters reported that, after one unit was shut down on Nov 1, the plant was operating at 42 percent of its capacity.
In response, Bangladesh also instructed the company to supply only half of the agreed electricity.
But ahead of the summer, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) requested Adani to resume full delivery from the Jharkhand plant. The company agreed to the request.
In 2019, the Indian government designated the power plant as part of a special economic zone, granting Adani tax and duty exemptions.
Reuters reported that Adani Power rejected a BPDB request to reflect these Indian tax benefits in the electricity pricing for Bangladesh.
The company also turned down BPDB’s appeal to continue the previous price discount.
Adani had provided this discount until May last year, saving Bangladesh an estimated $13 million. It did not agree to other demands from the BPDB either.
In December, an Adani source claimed that Bangladesh owed the company $900 million.
BPDB Chairman Rezaul Karim, however, said at the time the dues stood at around $650 million.
The dispute stemmed from differences over how the power tariff was being calculated.
