Renegotiation Archives - understand-culture

Compensatory Tariff

In 2011 and 2012 Indonesia barred the export of its coal below a benchmark price. Adani Power, with a plant at Mundra in Gujarat, and Coastal Gujarat Power, a subsidiary of Tata Power, then “filed petitions before the CERC seeking compensatory tariff,” a higher price than their power purchase agreements set. On April 11, 2017, the Supreme Court ruled on the matter in Energy Watchdog v. CERC.

The matter did not end there. In 2018 the Gujarat government formed a high-power committee, which recommended changes to the tariffs. “The Gujarat government has approached the Supreme Court seeking to amend the PPAs,” the trade journal Power Line reported in October 2018.

Review, Negotiate and Bring Down

On July 1, 2019, the new government of Andhra Pradesh issued an order to “review, negotiate and bring down the high wind and solar energy purchase prices” in agreements already signed. It set up a High Level Negotiation Committee. The Union power minister, R.K. Singh, asked the state to honor the agreements.

The High Court stayed the order on July 26, 2019. In September “the court struck down a government order, which had appointed a three-member expert committee to renegotiate the deals.”

The Second Offer

In March 2018 the government invited bids for 76 percent of Air India. In May it announced: “No bids received for Air India.” In January 2020 it tried again, this time for the whole airline. Later that year it eased the terms. As the Free Press Journal put it, the government “gives flexibility to investors to decide on the amount of Air India debt.”

In October 2021 the Tata group made the winning bid, 18,000 crore rupees.

Review and Modification

India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. On January 25, 2023, India sent Pakistan a notice seeking to modify it. In August 2024 “India has served another notice to Pakistan seeking a review and modification of the Indus Water Treaty,” Deccan Herald reported.

On April 23, 2025, after the attack at Pahalgam, India announced that the treaty “will be held in abeyance with immediate effect.”

Last Price

“Last price kya hai, bhaiya?” What is the last price, brother? The Indian news site The Quint lists the question among the things every Indian says to a shopkeeper. Its caption sums up the scene: “Indians = BARGAINING!”

The Fixed Fare

Auto-rickshaw meter fares in Bengaluru are fixed by the government. In June 2025 Karnataka’s transport minister, Ramalinga Reddy, ordered action against autos that “charge fares above the government-fixed rates.” His department had already “registered cases against auto drivers for refusing rides and demanding excess fares.” He wrote that “the permit of such autos should be cancelled and a case should be registered.”

The Vocabulary of Bargaining

Mol-tol. Bargaining, haggling, valuation, concession, in the Rekhta dictionary.

Mol-bhaav. To bargain, to make a bargain. Rekhta’s Hindi definition adds the talk that settles a deal and the fixing of a price.

Except with the Lowest Bidder

In 1998 India’s Central Vigilance Commission banned post-tender negotiations in government purchasing “except with L.1.ie., the lowest tenderer.”

In March 2007 it narrowed the rule: “there should be no post-tender negotiations with L-1, except in certain exceptional situations.” The exceptions include proprietary items, items from limited sources and suspected cartels. The reasons must be recorded.

Into the Arabian Sea

In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the BJP campaigned on a promise to push Enron’s Dabhol power project “into the Arabian Sea.” After winning the 1995 state election, their government halted construction on August 3, 1995.

In 1996 the state electricity board and Enron renegotiated the contract. Enron cut its power costs by 20 percent, and the board agreed to buy more electricity.