The electricity factor in Make in India

Abstract

One way to make more power available is to curtail its use at night. We need to revisit the idea of a single time zone. The Prime Minister’s exhortation to Make in India deserves to be seriously looked into. The programme can only succeed if energy, most importantly, electricity is provided to manufacturers at competitive rates. In India, compared with other countries, the official price of electricity that is provided to industry is not competitive. Global comparative data shows that the official price of electricity in India is nearly double that provided by China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar, to their manufacturers. This impacts the competitiveness of goods produced in India, especially that of MSMEs. Further, as the official power supply in India is not regular, industry is forced to use diesel generator sets which double the input cost of electricity. The high cost of electricity is amongst the biggest reasons for Indian manufacturers losing out to China. Read more at: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/the-electricity-factor-in-make-in-india/article20913594.ece1