Why the world's third most 'powerful' country is still power hungry

India has become the world's third largest power producer in the world, and while that may be cause for saying cheers, it's a sobering thought that the country's total power generated is less than one fourth of what China produced.

While the compounded annual growth rate of electricity production in the last seven years has been over seven per cent, the annual growth rate of electricity production has almost halved in the last three years - to 4.72 per cent in FY 17 from 8.43 per cent in FY 15.

Nearly two-third India's electricity is produced from thermal power sources - coal and gas - while the much tom-tommed nuclear deal with the US, for generation of nuclear power, has laid an egg so far.

India needs to step up the pace of its power generation capacity, as the gap between peak requirement and peak capacity has been increasing.

India's growth rate of per capita electricity consumption has nearly doubled in the last four years - to 6.43 per cent in FY 16 from 3.49 per cent in FY 13.