Effects of Power Outage in Mumbai – Valuqo Capital

The financial capital of India, Mumbai, faced a major power outage on 12th October 2020 around 10 am. This happened due to a technical glitch in Circuit 2 of the Kalva-Padghe powerhouse, hence, the regions between Thane and Mumbai faced a power cut.

Even though it is said to be the worst blackout that Mumbai faced in decades, the trade volumes on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange remained unaltered. BSE also conducted the listing ceremony of Mazgaon Dock and UTI AMC.

However, it did briefly affect the trade units of the bond or fixed income market as the individuals working from home were not able to complete the trades. These trade units are said to be recovered towards the end of the day. Sovereign bonds extended gains, with the yield on 10-year bonds falling four basis points to 5.90% while the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.2%.

The local train services and the central railways came to halt for some time, but the airways continued to work uninterrupted. The health care industry too worked ordinarily.

Although, people working from home, due to the Covid-19 outbreak had to put a hold on their daily work. The interruption in the railway functioning, however, did not affect a vast industry as the railways are used only for essential services. The banks and offices, which do not have a huge power backup, did face some difficulties but the power supply restoration started from about noon.  By 3 pm, about 1900 MW power was restored out of the lost 2000 MW.

However, the 1.84cr Mumbaikars did face some challenges amidst the outage. Due to non-functioning traffic signals, traffic jams were faced. Also, the exams of the final year professional courses students had to be postponed.  In some business complexes, incidents like employees stuck in the lifts were also reported.

“In the last six months, most of our meetings and discussions are online and today they were delayed,” said Sameer Kaul, chief executive officer at TrustPlutus Wealth Management Pvt. “Power outages in Mumbai, if any, are usually sorted out fairly quickly.” CM Uddhav Thackeray has asked that a technical audit be conducted to find out what led to the power outage.

Towards the end of the day, a power outage was again reported in a few districts. This power-cut also affected the water supply in the city.

written by: Uditi Murarka