Adani fully restores power supply to Bangladesh

Bangladesh said Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s power generation unit resumed full electricity supply to the nation, four months after halving the feed over unpaid dues, the Economic Times reported.

“We’re making regular payments to Adani and receiving power as per our requirements,” Rezaul Karim, chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board, said on Thursday. He didn’t specify the quantum of payments and whether past arrears have been cleared.

Data from BPDB shows Adani increased power supply more than two weeks ago.

Adani Power Ltd. had halved supply from its 1,600 megawatt coal-fired plant in India’s Jharkhand state in November after a series of missed payments by Dhaka, which was battling a foreign exchange crisis amid a turbulent change of regime. Restoration of supply will help Bangladesh avoid blackouts in the sweltering summer months when temperatures can reach 38C (100.4F) or more.

Shares of the company extended gains after the report, climbing as much as 2% in Mumbai. The stock has declined nearly 5% so far this year.

The dues, which had at one point crossed $850 million, now stands at $800 million and the same would be cleared in next six months, people familiar with the matter said. The BPDB had also provided guarantees to reassure Adani’s lenders to ease the company’s working capital crunch, they said, requesting not to be named as the information is private.

A representative of the Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The restoration of power is a step to help repair business ties between the two nations.