Planned targets of power generation not achieved: Praful
Our Bureau
THE HINDU

Mumbai, Sept. 27:

A course correction will be taken up by the Government to avoid a situation where the power generation capacity of units exceeds the market demand, said Mr Praful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. This would involve the Ministries of Finance, Industry and Commerce and the Planning Commission.

“My concern is that our planned targets of power generation have not been achieved. Our own projects are getting delayed and this is a result of various factors such as environment clearance, land acquisition and allocation of various resources,” said Mr Patel at an Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA) conference. “This is creating a situation where, on the one hand, power generation capacity is getting affected and, on the other hand, all the equipment which is being manufactured is not finding a market,” he added.

The “Indian Electrical Equipment Industry Mission Plan 2012-2022: Base Document” estimates the size of the domestic market in generation equipment to increase from $5.7 billion to $25-30 billion by 2022. The transmission and distribution equipment industry is estimated to grow from $18.5 billion to $70-75 billion by 2022. The Mission Plan 2012-2022, which has been prepared by Ernst & Young will take about six months to be ready and will be launched before the start of the Twelfth Plan period.

The mission plan outlines many strategies to achieve the proposed targets. The three broad challenges are – to increase the competitiveness of the Indian industry, increase export market share and to convert latent to real demand.

Referring to cheap import of equipments from China, Mr Patel said, “Indian products should be of high quality to tackle the threat of cheaper imports. These imports may be cheaper but the equipments have not proven the test of time.”

The Eleventh Plan (ending 2012) aimed at generating power close to one lakh megawatts; currently, India has not even crossed 60,000 megawatts. “I acknowledge that the targets have not been met. There are huge transmission and distribution losses,” said Mr Patel.