Bangladesh probes India power overpricing

Finds 'egregious anomalies' in cross-border supply deal with Adani

DHAKA:

A Bangladesh government committee said on Monday it had found "egregious anomalies" in a billion-dollar cross-border electricity supply deal with Indian conglomerate Adani, providing around 10 percent of the country's power.

Dhaka's review committee on power deals is investigating contracts agreed during the now-ousted government of Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of India, who was overthrown in an August 2024 uprising.

Relations between Bangladesh and neighbouring India have soured since.

The National Review Committee on Power Purchase Agreements said it had found "examples of egregious anomalies", that meant the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) was paying up to 50 percent more than it should.

"These wrong decisions are not mistakes," the report said.

"They suggest systematic collusion between businesses, politicians and bureaucrats to award overpriced and unnecessary contracts in order to deliberately create huge excess profits that are then shared between these parties."

Adani's coal-fired Godda plant in India's Jharkhand state -- a $2 billion project including transmission lines that opened in 2024 -- supplies between seven and 10 percent of Bangladesh's baseload power demand of 13 GW for its 170 million people.

"For the Adani Godda imported power contract, we conservatively estimate overpricing of 4-5 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour), which means the price being paid is roughly 50 percent higher than what it should be," the report said.

Bangladesh pays Adani $1 billion annually under the 25-year contract. The report said BPDB suffered losses of $4.13 billion in 2024-25.

Adani Power said it had not seen the report, but said it supplied "amongst the most competitively priced" power -- and demanded Dhaka's government now pay up the cash it owes it for the energy it had supplied.

"We have continued to honour our supply commitment despite large receivables, when many other generators have cut back or even stopped supplies," the spokesman said.

"We urge Bangladesh government to liquidate our dues at the earliest as this is impacting our operations."

The Dhaka committee said it was "essential" for contracts to be examined.

"The BPDB and the government should cancel contracts where direct evidence of corruption is found and there must be renegotiation of prices and terms with all private parties to reduce prices to market-competitive levels," the report read.

The South Asian nation votes on February 12 to elect a new parliament and fresh leadership after prolonged turmoil following the ouster of Hasina's government, that has reshaped domestic politics and regional dynamics.