NEW DELHI, May 19 -- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of severe heatwave conditions across north and central India this week, with record electricity demand underscoring the strain from rising temperatures even as the southwest monsoon advances towards Kerala.

India's peak power demand hit a fresh record high of 257.37 GW on Monday as heatwave conditions gripped large parts of north and central India, surpassing the previous high of 256.1 GW recorded on 25 April.

In a tweet, the power ministry said, "Yesterday (Monday) at 15:42 hours, the peak power demand of 257.37 GW was met without any shortfall. This peak demand was a new high surpassing the previous peak demand of 256.1 GW which was successfully met on April 25,...