Policy Watch: AC Temp Regulation, Green Finance, Repurposed Smart City SPVs & More

Coming Soon: AC Temperature Can't Go Below 20 Degrees Celsius

An upcoming government air-conditioner (AC) temperature rule may make this year’s Indian summer a little bit hotter. ACs operating in public places may soon be restricted from cooling rooms and spaces below 20 degrees Celsius.

Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made the announcement at a press meet, adding that this will help curb the country’s soaring electricity demand in summer and promote energy efficiency.

The government is employing an effective yet simple logic. More ACs now operate in Indian public places than ever. As a result, the power grids sometimes buckle under pressure. Simultaneously, the government cannot ask citizens not to use AC in summer. Those are bought precisely to fight the heat.

That is why the capping of the minimum temperature setting can be a good solution. If properly implemented, it can slash energy consumption and give the grids a breather.

For the time being, this rule will be applicable for offices, commercial establishments, and public buildings. However, if the energy crisis worsens, private homes may also come under the scanner of this rule.

MoHUA Advises Repurposing Of Smart City SPVs

The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched in 2015, was meant to usher in an urban revolution. To support SCM, special purpose vehicles (SPVs) were forged with a 50:50 partnership between the state governments and urban local bodies. The mandate was to implement the mission through “focused planning, project development, and on-ground implementation”.

The SCM was extended last year till March 2025, but the SPVs are not going anywhere, hence the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has issued an advisory to repurpose these SPVs.

The vision is to transform the SPVs into financially self-sustaining entities, which will tackle urban problems of the local bodies with speed and innovation. As the states are equal stakeholders in these SPVs, the Ministry urged state governments to make necessary adjustments so that these SPVs can charge a ‘centage’ (fee) for their efforts to solve problems of urban local bodies.

The Ministry outlined the broad contours of future activities of these SPVs. They are: (1) technology support, (2) project implementation, (3) consulting support, (4) research and assessment, and (5) investment facilitation.

The Ministry advisory also directed the SPVs to wrap up any unfinished business under the SCMs, and then pivot towards their new avatars.

Till now, the SPVs have delivered 93 per cent of more than 8,000 allotted projects. The overall budget of the SCM is a staggering Rs 48,000 crore, covering a variety of projects related to traffic flows, disaster response, public safety, and solid waste management, among others.

IREDA Raises Over Rs 2,000 Cr Green Finance

In a stunning financial feat, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has successfully raised Rs 2005.9 crore via a QIP (Qualified Institutions Placement). This is likely to electrify the green finance sector of the country.

The QIP was floated on June 5, 2025, and wrapped up in just five days. Investors lapped up the 12.15 crore equity shares at Rs 165.14 each. The price was 5 per cent lower than the Rs 173.83 benchmark offered price. As a result, the QIP was oversubscribed 1.34 times the base issue of Rs 1,500 crore.

Foreign and domestic investors, including insurance giants, commercial banks, and foreign portfolio investors, made a beeline for the issue. This is a shot in the arm for IREDA’s green mission.

This will eventually boost IREDA’s Tier-I capital and capital adequacy ratio, and enhance its ability to bankroll India’s fast-expanding renewable energy sector. The staggering financial achievement follows IREDA’s earlier IPO (initial public offering) in November 2023.

Investors’ trust and the government’s strong support for the agency’s clean energy mission are visible in these financial outcomes. No wonder IREDA termed it as “a testament to the trust and confidence” reposed in the body.

The agency thanked all investors and the government and reiterated its commitment to spearhead India’s clean energy financing juggernaut. India’s green energy mission is firmly on track and IREDA is driving it.

No More Piling Up Highway Projects On a Single Engineer

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has once again underlined the value of ensuring quality and enhanced supervision, this time by putting brakes on consultancy firms overworking their engineers.

The new diktat: No engineer can be burdened with more than 10 national highway projects at a time. The well-known buzz is that till now, consultancy firms — acting as independent engineers, authority engineers, or supervision consultants — usually pile up project after project on each engineer in charge.

The result was obvious — corners cut, overworked supervisors, and the risk of under-prepared highways on the plate. NHAI wants to end this for good, and restore discipline in highway-building.

The engineers are now supposed to visit every assigned site monthly, and file detailed reports. The new rules are strict and will be extended to projects under the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) and the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) models.

The NHAI’s clear mandate is to appoint independent, competent engineers, and to define their powers and responsibilities. It has directed the consultancy firms to redistribute workloads within 60 days.

The apex highway agency wants to ensure accountability for the creation of high-quality and safer highways in the country.

Union Cabinet Approves Mega Multitracking Rail Projects

Indian Railways has just received another boost. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, has approved two multitracking projects with an allocation of Rs 6,405 crore.

The new tracks will traverse seven districts across Jharkhand, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, invigorating 318 km of vital rail arteries and boosting freight and passenger movement in these regions.

The 133 km Koderma-Barkakana multitracking will link Jharkhand’s coal heartland with the rest of the country. It should also considerably reduce travel time between Patna and Ranchi.

The next one is in South India. Karnataka’s Ballari and Chitradurga will be connected with Andhra’s Anantapur by the 185 km Ballari-Chikkajajur multitracking. The two projects will connect 1,408 villages, benefitting around 2.8 million people. Self-employment and the creation of other jobs are expected to follow.

However, the big gainer will be the country’s freight network. An additional 49 million tonnes of annual capacity will facilitate the movement of commodities like coal, steel, cement, and agricultural products.

Electrified multiple tracks also mean that there can be savings of around 520 million litres of oil imports. The green economy is also likely to benefit, as the railway tracks will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.64 billion kg, which is equivalent to planting 110 million trees.

The multitracking projects are another step towards a climate-smart and self-reliant India.

(Contributed and curated by Abhijit Mukhopadhyay)