The Rs 90,000-crore liquidity package for discoms to help them pay their dues till the month of March would soon be enhanced to Rs 1.2 lakh crore by factoring in these utilities’ outstanding till June, said a senior official.

In May, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a Rs 90,000-crore liquidity infusion into cash-strapped discoms for payment of their dues till March 2020.

Discoms have been facing a demand slump because of the lockdown to contain Covid-19.

Participating in a webinar on “Innovation in Renewable Energy” organised by PHDCCI, power secretary S.N. Sahai said the liquidity package would cover the dues of discoms for the months from April to June also and it would be enhanced to Rs 1.2 lakh crore.

While announcing the package, the government had said, “At present, discoms have a total outstanding of Rs 94,000 crore towards power generation firms (gencos).”

However, later states demanded that the package be extended to include the dues towards power generation and transmission firms for the months of April and May as well.

A source said that an official communication has already been sent to the implementing state-owned non-banking finance firms Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and REC by the power ministry. The source further said the respective boards of REC and PFC will approve the hike in the liquidity package to around Rs 1.2 lakh crore covering dues till June this year by the end of September.