India’s November Power Generation Declines Amid Mild Weather and Slower Industrial Activity

India’s electricity generation fell for the second consecutive month in November, as mild weather and slowing industrial activity kept demand muted. Total electricity output dropped about 1% year-on-year to 134.26 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), following a sharper 6% decline in October, according to daily data from federal grid regulator Grid-India.

Analysts noted that this marked the first November demand decline in at least five years, a period that normally sees rising consumption due to post-monsoon industrial and agricultural activity.

Cooling requirements remained low due to an early onset of winter, while earlier weak summer conditions and an early monsoon had already suppressed electricity consumption. The slowdown in India’s manufacturing sector, affected by factors such as steep U.S. tariffs, further contributed to the subdued demand, highlighting the close link between industrial activity and electricity usage.

Coal-fired power generation, which typically accounts for around 75% of India’s electricity, fell 5.8% from a year earlier, continuing a trend of annual declines in seven out of the past 11 months. In contrast, renewable energy output surged 24% year-on-year to 18.55 billion kWh, reflecting rapid growth in solar and wind power. India added a record 25.4 GW of new renewable capacity in the first seven months of 2025 and plans to expand non-fossil-fuel power capacity to 500 GW by 2030.

Reflecting the overall slowdown, rating agency ICRA sharply revised its full-year power demand growth forecast for India to 1.5%–2%, down from an earlier 4%–4.5%. Analysts emphasized that seasonal weather patterns and industrial performance continue to play a critical role in shaping electricity consumption, which in turn affects generation planning, coal demand, and the pace of transition to cleaner energy sources.

Power-generation declines during mild weather show how renewable-integration challenges surface differently across seasons - and they inform grid-planning decisions for developers, IPPs and utilities in ways that headline capacity numbers can't. Our energy-transition and market-intelligence teams help clients evaluate what these seasonal dynamics mean for pipeline sequencing and Scope 2 disclosure.