What Rathin Basu of Alstom T&D India Limited expects from Budget 2016

The recently announced UDAY scheme is indeed a positive initiative. However, the key to its success lies in the execution. If implemented properly, it will allow the discoms to serve customers better and eliminate the problem of load shedding as the availability of power has increased over the last four years. Similarly, initiatives in solar and wind power segments are expected to bring in additional power supply. The challenge, therefore, is to create new electricity demand for the industry, infra, residential and agriculture sectors. With current 1015 kWh per capita electricity consumption, India's per capita is at 25 per cent of China's and at 8 per cent of the western world. Thus, in order to rapidly become an Industrial economy and push the 'Make in India' movement, India needs to double its per capita electricity consumption every five years. At this rate, India's per capita electricity consumption would reach China's current per capita consumption level by 2025 and that of the western world by 2033.

In fact, this should be the key parameter which needs to be tracked, next to the GDP growth rate, to make India truly Industrial while making its electricity sector successful. If the states and discoms act together in the UDAY programme, then most of the private IPPs would be back to profit in less than three years. The power sector NPAs will decrease significantly while giving a new lease of life to the electrical industry by attracting new capex. This could well be one of the biggest reforms of the decade with far reaching impact on employment generation and uplifting the quality of life of the weaker sections of society.