North India hit by worst blackout in 10 years

Grid failure knocked out power supply to 300 million people in New Delhi this morning, along with much of northern India in what was the worst blackout for over a decade, in Asia's third-largest economy.

The failure hit consumers in Delhi and seven other states in the early hours today and electricity supply had not been restored by the morning rush-hour, which left the capital's workers sweltering overnight and then stranded at metro stations with the cancellation of trains.

Persistent power shortages coupled with grossly inefficient and inadequate road and rail networks have plagued India's efforts to industrialise rapidly. Meanwhile, an economic slump in the economy, has forced New Delhi recently, to scale down a targeted infrastructure outlay of  $1 trillion over the next five years.

Much of India has to put up with blackouts lasting up to eight hours daily and citizens had staged angry protests on the industrial fringes on Delhi this summer, the hottest in years.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed on many roads in the capital today as traffic lights failed and thousands of commuters abandoned the metro.

Power minister Sushilkumar Shinde blamed the outage on an incident near Agra, though he offered no details. He added 60 per cent of normal service had been restored by mid-morning with full power expected to be restored in the afternoon.