As the Indian and Chinese armies remain stuck in a deadlock at the Himalayas, the Centre appears to be finding more ways to pinch the dragon. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is drafting a roadmap to secure India's power stations and smart grid systems against cyber attacks, conditioning it in a way that it becomes difficult for Chinese companies to compete for contracts.
The move comes three months after Power Minister Piyush Goyal said the government would invoke the principle of reciprocity when awarding future contracts. While he did not name China, it is being received as an inference to the Chinese classifying power as a strategic sector to keep foreign companies out. CEA chairman RK Verma said the authority was working on a report to secure India's power systems. He however, added, “It is not against any one country but against all those who want to harm our tamper with our system.”
While the conditions CEA prescribes, is yet to be revealed, if they manage to pass through the government, they are unlikely to hurt many European or US companies given they have stuck around for a long time. Chinese power gear makers have enjoyed a good run so far, taking advantage of low domestic manufacturing capacity to bag major contracts as India went on a spree to build power plants. While import of Chinese generation equipment has levelled out, cyber security has emerged as a key concern after Chinese firms bagged smart grid contracts for 18 cities and competed for many others.
