All my young friends, devotees of the Swaminarayan movement and my brothers and sisters, truly, I am taken back into history, I had the privilege of coming here 22 years ago when this temple was formally dedicated and the Pranprateshtha took place along with Shri LK Advaniji. I was much younger at that point of time, I don’t have very very big memories about exactly the day’s function but I do recall, very clearly, that it seemed as if all of London was over here that day. And it was truly a historic day for the Hindu Dharma. It was a historic day for all the people of London, particularly, for the devotees of Pramukh Swami Maharaj and the Swaminarayan movement.

And, for me personally, it was a very enlightening day, because all the messages that came out from the temple that day were messages of brotherhood, were messages of devotion, were messages where I could see that despite living so far away from our motherland, each one of you has been blessed with very deep-rooted family values, a devotion to the Lord, which keeps us all grounded, and a commitment to be good citizens of this world. And, therefore, I think this temple has played a very important role for the lives of each one of us, including me, in shaping our destinies.

In a material world today, it’s very easy to get very busy making money. And, it’s also very easy to go down a path which may not necessarily be very noble. But my own experience over the last many many years has been that devotees of the Swaminarayan sect have turned out to be very fine citizens, very good human beings. And in that sense, I think all of us – my young sisters there and all of you, young brothers and I – are truly blessed to have the opportunity for getting the continuous blessings of our saints, to keep learning from their messages, from their writings, from their teachings, and to keep reminding ourselves how each one of us has a role to play to make the world a better place to live in.

I also had the privilege of taking the darshan of Pramukh Swami Maharaj in Mumbai during the Amrut Mahotsav, which was held very close to my home in Mumbai. Another massive programme, the likes of which I have not seen again, went on for many days and world leaders came there to seek his blessings. And over the years, whenever I have come to London if it was a Tuesday or a Saturday, I have tried to make an effort to try and come to the temple. Unfortunately, for the last 3 years I could not do that, so I am actually feeling very very blessed and very fortunate that to meet all of you today, and to get the blessings of Pramukh Swami Maharaj and our saints. I have got this opportunity again after 3 years.

All of you are, I would suspect, students or just starting off in life in different ways. Some of you may have business, some of you may be doing a job. But, each one of you has a huge role when it will come to shaping the future of this planet. Sometimes, we get the feeling how does it matter what I do, how does it matter what one individual does? And it’s quite logical, we can say, there are 6 billion people on earth. In India, there are 1.2 billion people. What can I do? How do I matter?

I think the message that we have learnt from our history or from our religion actually shows the importance of each human being, and shows how each one of us can play an important role in shaping the destiny of mankind. We could be doing something as simple as keeping the precincts of this beautiful temple clean. It may seem like a small job. But you never know that small job may mean that you have actually, probably, there was some piece of glass somewhere which you have cleaned out, which otherwise could have hurt somebody else, maybe even cause somebody deep body harm. Look at the volunteers who actually built this beautiful complex, each one of them played a role in making this entire lovely temple come up. Now, imagine if any one of them had made a mistake and the foundation or one of the beams or one of the superstructures had a little chink in the arm or some problem left behind.

Can you imagine on a day when there are 3000-5000-8000 devotes here, and I have personally witnessed such large numbers of devotees at a point of time in the temple. Just imagine what a colossal damage that could cause. Or one humble policeman at the airport – after all, when we are taking an aircraft, finally frisked by one individual, that one policeman, who is frisking you or checking your baggage on the x-ray machine. It’s one human being, one individual. Can you imagine if he was lax in his job? He didn’t do his job well, or he compromised his integrity. What a huge, colossal damage that could cause.

And I just want each one of you to believe in yourself in whatever work you do, whatever vocation, profession, job. Believe in what you are doing as being an important part, which is going to shake the destiny of mankind. Today, I was launching a company, an Indian government company setting up office in London. It’s a company which does energy efficiency. They are going to sell LED bulbs in London, just as they have sold 230 million LED bulbs in the last 2 years in India.

Now, one can say it’s one LED bulb, costing less than a pound or 2 pounds, how does it matter? But can you imagine, collectively, when all of India converts itself to LED bulb lighting, you know what an impact it is going to have on earth, on mankind? We will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 79 million tonnes every year. We will reduce energy consumption by 112 billion units every year, 112 billion kilowatt hours. And consumers in India, and we all know largely India comprises of poor people, middle class people, people who do have difficulty in paying high electricity bills. It will save them 6.5 billion US dollars or maybe 5 billion pounds, every year in their electricity bills.

Item is small, a 1 pound LED bulb. But it saves the environment. It saves waste. It introduces the concept of being conscious about how we are spending our money, what we are doing with our resources. And, I share this with all of you because it’s the combined effort of all of us put together, which can really transform. Today, you are working in the United Kingdom; you have to work for your nation. You have work to transform the United Kingdom, without of course, ever forgetting that you have a motherland, you have family back home about whom you also have to continue to always remain conscious, concerned, caring. And, therefore, when each one of you takes it upon yourself that I am going to make a difference, I am going to contribute to a better future for all the people, people back home, people in London, wherever. Then just imagine what a game changing role each one of us can perform in our lives. Back home in India, we are making an effort. We are making an effort to really reform the way things are done in India, to transform the economy, to improve the lives of the people of India, to meet the aspirations of the youth of India, to encourage good governance. But that is not possible unless people, everybody starts joining that movement.

Look at Swachha Bharat, it’s a small movement, trying to clean up the country. Wouldn’t you love to see India cleaner?  Wouldn’t you love you see when you go back home a clean city, clean airports, clean streets, a cleaner environment? Wouldn’t you love to go back to your village and see that everybody has a toilet in their home, everybody is blessed with round the clock 24 hours electricity?

These are all the efforts that we are trying to do in India. With the blessings of almighty, we have had a fair deal of success, but not enough. We still have to conquer lot of difficulties, conquer a lot of action which is still required to be done. But I do hope each one of you as good citizens, as people with good family values, as people concerned for your motherland will continue to care about what’s happening back home, would continue to go back home, give some part of your life to make things better.

You might have seen that movie Swades. Some of you may remember that Shah Rukh Khan movie Swades, how he goes back to his village and actually realizes they don’t get water and creates a small hydro process system by which he can pump water to people and meet their drinking water needs. It was a small gesture but he could actually transform his own village and the way the village was getting water.

All of you are blessed with good education. All of you are blessed with reasonably good families to live in. And I do hope, you will continue to be concerned both for you Karma Bhoomi, which is the United Kingdom, and for your motherland, which is India, play the bridge between both these nations, the bridge of bringing goodness to both nations, to the people of both nations, continue to be blessed by the Lord, continue to be rooted in good religious philosophy, continue to be rooted in our Hindu traditions, in the traditions that all of us have imbibed in us. And I have no doubt in my mind that going forward, this assembly of youngsters that I see before me, each one of you is going to become an ambassador of goodwill between the United Kingdom and India, and each one of you is going to do good for the people of India, for the people less privileged than us in the years to come.

And I do hope to hear from some of you with your ideas, with what can be done better, what we can do in India better, how we can shape the destiny of India better. Please write into us with ideas, with thoughts, suggestions, even complaints. If you see something going wrong in India, something not being done well in India, please write to us. Very easy to contact me either through the Twitter or through my website, sending in a mail to me, it’s PiyushgoyalBJP@gmail.com as simple as that, if it’s difficult I will leave it with Swamiji also over here. But write to us, tell us what we can do better, give us your ideas. Because it’s only from the ideas that you all give us that we will be able to do our job better.

And I promise you, each one of us back home is trying to do something for the nation, do something better for the people less privileged than us, get the poor, get the marginalized sections of society out of poverty, give them a better quality of life. And I would urge you to be a part of this effort in your own way, in whatever way you feel you would like to contribute, would like to work. I am not looking at contribution as in money. We need your time. We need your goodwill. We need your ideas. We need your imagination. And I do hope that going forward, the UK-India relationship does not remain a relationship between governments or leaders alone, but becomes a relationship where the people of both the countries led by our people of Indian origin from India who are living in the United Kingdom, become that great force to strengthen the ties, further relations, and take back to India all that you have learnt over here, all that you have enjoyed over here to your villages, to your families back home.

I can only tell you, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is leaving no stone unturned to serve his motherland. I know that he is very popular amongst all of you. You showered all your love and affection on him when he came here, when he addressed all of you in Wembley. I am sure some of you may have also been there. Many of you were in the organizing committee actively, half the organizing committee is right here. And I really feel privileged to be able to meet all of you, and I am sure going forward, we will continue to have this relationship, this bonding. And I am sure, I will see some of you back home in India helping to serve your motherland, helping to serve your brothers and sisters there.

My best wishes to all of you, to your families. I wish you well. I wish you all success in your work, in your studies, in your business, in your professions. And I do pray for well-being for all the Indian people, all the community living in London, living in the United Kingdom. May God bless all of you.

Thank you very much.

State-run  plans to invest around Rs 200 crore to make nearly 1,500 buildings of the government energy efficient, a company official said.

“After successfully implementing our UJALA scheme to distribute LED bulbs at affordable rates across the country and the program to replace street lights with LEDs, we want to take the initiative to a next level by making buildings energy efficient,” EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar told PTI here.

EESL, a joint venture of NTPC, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and PowerGrid, was set up under Ministry of Power to facilitate implementation of energy efficiency projects.

“We have embarked on a project to make buildings energy efficient. We have already taken up a few projects in Delhi where we are implementing the energy efficiency program in a few government establishments. We are now tying up with the Maharashtra government, where we will make these 1,500 buildings of the PWD department energy efficient,” he said.

EESL will invest nearly Rs 200 crore for the project for upgrading the lighting system, use more efficient and power saving air-conditioners and fans, among others, he said.

“There are around 25,000 ACs in these 1,500 buildings and we plan to replace them with systems which save nearly 40 per cent more energy than the BEE 5-star rated machines. We plan to complete the project in a year.

“We will maintain all these equipment for the entire project period of 3-5 years. We hope we will be able to recover investments during these 3-5 years,” Kumar said.

He said the project will be undertaken under its National Building Program, which will be launched on May 20 this year in the state.

Apart from this, EESL is also implementing a similar project at 900 railway stations across the country, he said.

“We have also embarked on a program where it will retrofit all the lightings in Indian High Commissions based in London. We are implementing this project on a pilot basis and we will be investing nearly 70,000 pounds for this,” Kumar said.

Recently, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal announced that EESL will invest 100 million pound in the UK over the next three years to extend its affordable lighting scheme there.

EESL has so far distributed over 23 crore LED bulbs and 22 lakh street lights have been replaced, which is nearly 20 per cent of the total street lights across the country.

Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/eesl-to-invest-rs-200cr-to-make-pwd-buildings-energy-efficient-2278637.html

High Commissioner, Satish, Mr Patel, Dr Jyotisna Suri ji, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us on this launch of UJALA, and truly it’s, whoever thought of this name meeting our Unnat Jyoti affordable LEDs and making it UK Joins Affordable LEDs For All, deserves to be complemented. Truly, it’s beautiful that we have been able to retain our brand of UJALA and bring it to India. I wish all my colleagues from EESL great success in this venture; it’s your 5^th foray out of the country. And I am sure this one will be a grand success. In fact, in Austria, we have also discussed a possible business opportunity for EESL, and I think looking around at what’s happening in Europe and America, I think you have great potential even in the developed world and should focus your energies to see how we can expand our business quickly.

A particular word of thanks for Ambassador Satish Mehta who has really given us that encouragement and kick-started the entry of EESL into other markets, I don’t believe we could have done it without you Satishji, thank you very much, it’s really kind of you.

Just a couple of issues from the presentation that I wish you all to correct whoever made that presentation. First of all, stop saying you have grown 20 times. Think like a politician. If you bring down the price to 15% of what you were buying earlier, and then grow 20%, you have actually grown 140 times, not 20 times, 140 times. Debashish, am I right? So, we are in the business of selling stories, I mean not we as in politicians alone, all of us. The world today works on that. So, when the volume grows 140 times, you talk of the volume, if it’s an inflationary trend then you talk about the money.

I think we must recognize that this growth is a 140 time growth in less than two years. I don’t think we will find too many parallels to that anywhere in the world. It’s truly an amazing story that EESL has in the last 2 years demonstrated their ability to chalk out. Of course, one more thing, I shouldn’t be saying this in UK, I should be actually saying it the office. But we quickly need to change this name to something more catchy. This EESL name is very difficult for people to recognize and relate to, so somebody take up that task whoever is here from EESL. We need to come up with a catchy name. And let’s do a competition in India to come out with some good catchy name, so that we can brand this internationally. And, then maybe Ashish to help us create a brand value and raise some huge amounts of capital out of that across the world.

But truly it’s so satisfying to see a small LED bulb, most cases would have been considered inconsequential, but impact so many lives, particularly, in India. Can we imagine a poor person whose monthly bill would probably be Rs 200 or Rs 300, whose entire energy need is focused around the lighting that he gets in his home, at best a fan, charging a mobile phone, and slightly, if he is slightly better off, he may have a mixer grinder or he may have a refrigerator. That’s around the typical ecosystem of energy need of a poor person, of a lower middle class family in India. For that family and for his electricity bill, the component of lighting is pretty huge. I am told, in the United Kingdom the total electricity consumption on lighting alone is quite small relative to your eating needs, air conditioning needs, other costs. But in India, lighting alone accounts for nearly 15% of our energy consumption across the nation, and 15% in a large nation like India is about a 180 billion units of energy, a 180 billion kilowatt hours. I don’t know if all of UK consumes that much, maybe worth finding out. But that’s what we consume only in lighting alone.

And the potential saving as we move towards a 100% LED nation for India is going to be nearly 112 billion kilowatt hours. For those of you from the energy sector, you will be able to understand what kind of a dimension this is. A 112 billion kilowatt hour of electricity means you are reducing the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by nearly 79 million tonnes every year, loot at the impact on pollution. Our peak load, particularly, since we are going to use lighting in the evening hours will reduce or can reduce by about 20 GW — 20,000 MW of energy installed capacity can be avoided. And to top it all, our consumers can save nearly $6.5 billion worth of electricity bills annually.

That’s the dimension that this programme has in India, and to my mind, it is this understanding, it is this philosophy of saving waste, which Prime Minister Modi articulates many times and talks about sustainable lifestyles. After all, when all of us are concerned about the future of the planet, when we are looking at what can be done to leave behind a better environment, a better world to live in for the next generation. We are clearly looking at making our lifestyles also more sustainable. We can’t have the kind of waste that is reflected in different areas of energy consumption, food consumption.

And as the famous Englishman Robert Swan, I think he is the person who was the first man to walk both to the North pole and to South pole, had said many years ago, ‘the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will come and save it and the day we realize that if at all we have to save the planet, if at all we have to address this challenge of climate change, it will be you and I and all of us, collectively, who will have to make a difference to the future, who will have to act today and we are running out of time.

I was just been told that the same model that we used in India to promote LED lighting where in the early days because of transparent procurement and volume procurement, we were able to significantly reduce the purchase price of LED bulbs in India. We actually gave these bulbs out to the people of India through distribution companies at something like 15 cents, as an upfront payment, 15 cents being paid every month for 10 or 11 months. And for about $2, we were able to give out the bulb. Over the period, of course, we have been able to even fine-tune that process and bring down our costs, and without subsidy to give out nearly 230 million LED bulbs, sell them to the people of India, along with that, the private sector in the same period of 2 years, or thereabouts, sold about 330 million LED bulbs.

So, effectively, India has been able to replace already 560 million old incandescent bulbs or CFL bulbs by LED bulbs. And 560 million is a pretty big figure in 2 years. All of it without government support, largely on the strength of the savings that the people will enjoy on implementation of this programme. It may be a good idea High Commissioner if you can put the officials of EESL in touch with the distribution companies here to see if we could look at a similar model for England. I see no reason why we cannot actually use the distribution network or the billing network of the distribution companies to help the consumers earn the savings and pay a part of it to …. the cost of the bulb over two years or one and a half years. And let this also have the kind of scale up in England, in London may be to begin with, that we have witnessed in India.

We could even tie-up with some of the e-commerce companies here. We could have different models of engagement, it could be a one short term payment, it could be a installment payment. It may be a good idea for some of our colleagues and we can may be expand the strength of people here. And thank you very much High Commissioner, I believe you have even given them space to operate out of the Commission. Thank you. I believe that’s truly an eye opener for all of us that if diplomatic mission is willing to engage, to do some good for a foreign country also. I think that’s really-really remarkable. And that’s the kind of vision and thinking that Prime Minister Modi often encourages all of us to think out of the box. So thank you very much, I really appreciate that.

But maybe, if we can expand the set up here and talk to all the large users, may be industry, businesses, we can talk to all the hotels, we can talk to all the supermarket chains. And, with a zero-cost, zero-investment model, I am sure many people would be interested to look at this. So, whoever is in business over here, whoever has contacts with business over here, could possibly help us open the doors. And once we have done that model, I am told you already have 7 contracts where on the same installment payment or the savings helping to pay for the installations, you are going to get recovery of money over 10 or 15-18 years. But, it may be a good idea if we can tie-up with a few companies, so we have some Indian businesses in India. After all, yesterday, Mr Boris Johnson was mentioning that India is the second or third largest investor in UK. So you clearly have a number of Indian businesses which are here, talk to the TATAs, let’s have all of Jaguar and all of those companies and factories completely using LED bulbs to begin with or LED tube lights. And given climate change and the warming of the weather here, you may even actually find a market for fans, the way things are going in London these days.

So it’s a great business opportunity that I can see in England. This can also become the base to foray into other countries in Europe. And I think it’s time that, collectively, we all realize the importance of sustainable lifestyles. It’s time we understood what waste is all about. I mean with due respect, and maybe it was a function of the good old days where there was a lot of cold weather in England or in Europe. At that point of time, they did not have these kind of huge day windows or big window, and I find a lot of the homes have quite small windows in their homes. So, certainly, they must be keeping their lighting on for many more hours than what we do, let’s say, back home in India. So, maybe a good idea to see even if domestic consumers can benefit from good quality, low-cost LED bulbs to begin with. And, personally, I would not rest with the kind of turnovers that were shown on the presentation. Somewhere there is a mistake, there’s a disconnect between my thinking and EESL. I have read in one of the slides $1.5 billion by 2020. The English persons here may not be able to figure it out, for my friends from India, you have heard of that saying, Jangal mein mor naacha kisne dekha? Right? So it’s something like if the peacock is dancing in the forest. Who will see it if you are not in the forest at that time. My tenure in this term as a Minister gets over in 2019, so I can’t be planning 2020. I need to see that turnover happen before I go to the next election. And that’s not for the press to report please.

But I had always set the target of $1.5 billion by 2019, nothing to do with the election. It’s concomitant with my target for UDAY and with my target for 100% household electrification across the country. This was the 3^rd leap of that because I believe as does my honorable Prime Minister that every unit of electricity that we save, particularly, in the context of transmission losses, distribution losses is really probably one and a quarter unit of electricity produced. And the impact of that on global warming can be huge if the whole world recognizes this. And I am sure if we look at the entire world as one, just this massive deployment of this programme can have a significant impact on the future of the globe.

So, I would believe that it’s time that all of us engage in making energy efficiency a way of life for us. Mr Anil Aggarwal is here, the first signing, and you can actually draw up an MoU in the business centre here and have him signed out today itself that every bulb in the Vedanta Group across the world should be replaced with an LED bulb supplied by EESL at competitive prices though.

Is that a deal? Wonderful!

So, we will start with that today. And, let’s look at this, going forward, in a mission mode. I am not looking for a 7-transaction company in the UK. I love London. It’s my favourite city outside of Bombay, and I must not forget to mention Delhi because that could be very dangerous for me. I could actually be sent back to Bombay. But truly, I love this city. For me, every opportunity that I get to be in London is a delight, not only because it’s a beautiful city, not only because the people of London are wonderful. But it’s also because it’s a confluence of cultures, and it’s one of those cities, which is probably more global than anywhere else in the world. I think you feel so comfortable in London. You feel so nice to walk the streets, to have a walk at Hyde Park, to meet the warm people of London, as we did last night at the programme of the UK-India investment summit.

And, truly, it would be a matter of great personal satisfaction for me if we can make UJALA become a way of life in London, just like UJALA in UK is currently trending on Twitter, both in India and in UK. As we speak, UJALA in UK is trending on Twitter, both in India and in UK. And I think that’s the kind of spirit that we have to bring to London. That’s the kind of engagement that will truly be satisfying. I would urge each of you to consider spreading the word, spreading the message, talking about it, using your influence to sensitize people to the importance of energy efficiency. It’s really something like that $20 bill lying on the ground. Most people wouldn’t pick it up because they would assume that it must be fake, considering that somebody would have picked it up if it was a genuine $20 bill or a 20 Pound bill.

LED bulbs are something like that. We take it for granted. It is a very small bill. It will probably save you a few kilowatt hours of energy for that bulb, it’s not taken seriously. But it’s such a low-hanging fruit. It’s such a small way you can contribute to the challenge of global warming to address the problems that all of humanity is grappling with. And we don’t even have to worry whether a world leader in another country supports climate change or opposes any effort to save the world. It’s nothing to do with what other countries are doing. It’s what we believe in. It’s what is intrinsic to our working, our thinking, our own contribution. Very often, people come and ask me, what will be a role if I want to do something for my nation. And I tell them, you know, it could be as simple a thing as making sure the lane outside your home is clean, in the Indian context.

Similarly, for my friends from UK, if Indians, back home in India, could adopt LED bulbs so rapidly that in a short span of 2 years 560 million bulbs could have been replaced, I am sure the very wise people of England and the Londoners who pride themselves in being extremely business-savvy and understand the value of money will be faster to adopt this than anybody else. So, I would look for a day when I can come back to London, do my walk at Hyde Park in the morning, and then come back to the Lalit, into this beautiful hotel. I really didn’t even realize it’s so beautiful. And, fortunately, it’s so beautiful that you forget the misery of the traffic coming in over here.

But, truly, it will be a great day for me if I can come into London and say that we have got everybody in London engaged with UJALA. And, we have been able to make a positive impact in the energy scenario here. I am sure, the people of London will extend all support. I have absolutely no doubt the government of UK, post elections, will extend all support to this programme. My own interaction with the leaders of UK has been very positive on this. They are very excited that EESL has set up shop in London. The Austrian government is also very keen, by the way that you come there, and as would I am sure other countries in Europe. But please, I would urge each one of you to become the ambassadors of this revolution on energy efficiency, become the evangelists who will take this message far and wide over a drink at the pub today evening or in your offices, in your homes. And we can actually make London also shine as bright as they see India shining when they see the world map from the NASA satellite pictures.

I don’t know if any of you has had an opportunity to see the latest NASA pictures showing the lighting across the world. It’s a matter of great pride and delight for all of us that the latest NASA pictures, when they juxtapose the lighting that prevailed across the world 5 years ago, and more recently now, seem to suggest that India is probably the only country in the world which has expanded its lighting very-very significantly. In most of the parts of the world, the growth in lighting, the impact of a better future has been quite subdued, there have been some areas in the Middle East, some areas in far East, the islands near Australia. But, otherwise, Pacific islands… Otherwise, India is that one bright spot which shines out, which shines out on the NASA map as becoming the provider of new services, of new light to millions of people in India. I am sure London will also benefit with those beautiful white LED lights of all different colours, I think you have many colours that you are giving out.

I would also urge you to look at bringing up partnerships with other stakeholders in London and thereabouts, look at other companies who can become outlets for your products, other companies who can help support expansion of the UJALA programme in London. And I would set a timeline of, let me see, it’s now 2017 May, on this one shall we say March 2019, we should atleast be, what? A 100 million bulbs in UK? Will that be a modest target? Anybody else wants to venture a better target for UK? Or is that too much? Too much? 500 kilowatt hours per year! Which can come down to about a 100. Then it will come down to atleast half of that.

That’s pretty good. 250 kilowatt hours in an average British home would mean a significant saving looking at the cost of energy at homes in London. So, that sounds like a good proposition, let’s stay in for a 100 million, let’s not go for a short one. 100 million – March 2019, I am going to take the advantage of low-cost airfare by booking myself to come into London, 28^th March, 2019.

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen for all your support. I forgot to apologize for being late. But, truly, I wish to apologize, I got held up, first with some family duties and then with the traffic in London. But, my sincerest apologies for not being able to be here on time.

Thank you very much.

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal who is currently in London launched the Ujala Scheme related to the energy efficient LED bulbs on Saturday evening.

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal who is currently in London launched the Ujala Scheme related to the energy efficient LED bulbs on Saturday evening, reported news agency ANI. At the event, Goyal asked everyone to be a part of this revolution in energy efficiency. “All should become ambassadors of this revolution on energy efficiency become evangelists who will take this message far & wide,” he was quoted as saying by the agency. He added that this scheme will make London shine and appear as India does on the world map from NASA satellite pictures. “It can actually make London also shine as bright as we see India shining when we see World Map from NASA satellite pictures,” Goyal said.

Earlier in the day, he had said that the government has a “holistic vision” to make it easier to do business in India and was working to ensure that every household in the country has access to energy in two years, reported news agency PTI. Goyal who is London for the India-UK Roundtable on Energy added that he has taken a personal pledge to work towards energy access for every household in India by 2019. “We are working on solutions to hit our targets before 2022, as the Indian government creates the foundations with a 100-year horizon in view,” Goyal said at the UK-India Conclave yesterday.

He had also launched the state-run National Thermal Power Corporation’s rupee-denominated ‘Masala Bond’ on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which has raised around Rs 2,000 crore. “We listed the NTPC Masala Bond at the London Stock Exchange, which is a sign of the scale in India. In the long run, the rupee will be a currency with most stable exchange rate. We are on the path of growth and we want the rest of the world to be our partner in that growth,” he had said on the sidelines of the UK-India Awards on Friday evening.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/piyush-goyal-launches-ujala-scheme-for-energy-efficient-led-bulbs-in-london/667163/

The last two days at the Vienna Energy Forum, and come back from there as I concluded yesterday evening at a Financial Times dinner with renewed enthusiasm and renewed vigour to pursue a clean energy agenda for India. More particularly on the back of very successful bidding of renewable energy projects, we have been able to change the rules of the game, make it far more honest, far more sustainable, a very predictable and stable and simple policy regime for the power sector, particularly, for the renewable energy sector.

We have been able to look at good counterparty risks intermediating between the suppliers of power or producers of power and the state distribution companies. And, the sum total of all of these initiatives has led us to discover a price, which was until yesterday 4 US dollar cents per kilowatt of solar power. And, as I got into the flight at Vienna this morning, it had already dropped by another 3 or 4%. So, in Indian Rupees, the last bid that has got approved is at Rs 2.44 per kilowatt hour of solar power.

Of course, the state is Rajasthan, which is blessed with far more sun than the rest of the country. Also, we have the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) intermediating, it’s not a direct sale to a DISCOM. But, it does give one a lot of confidence about the ability of renewable power to be cheaper than thermal power today, to be actually more attractive so we are below grid parity in terms of renewable energy, as we speak today.

Why I mentioned this before I went on to a more macro positioning of India is because what we had set out to do about two and a half years ago, and I have been to London several times and discussed with different groups. I don’t know if any of you have had a chance to meet with me before. But, in each one of my engagements, I had talked about the courage of conviction that Prime Minister Modi had in clean energy, in the renewable energy programme, his confidence that honest procurement, economies of scale, intelligent planning and, of course, technological advancements will get us there, has proved to be right. He stands redeemed. His commitment to green energy has finally paid off, and as I often say, whilst very senior leaders of the world were talking about the inconvenient truth, Prime Minister Modi when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat had already started working on ‘convenient action.’ You know, he came out with a book titled ‘Convenient Action’, soon after Vice-President Gore’s book titled ‘Inconvenient Truth’. And ever since then, last five-six years, he’s consistently followed a green path, an agenda for promoting clean energy in India, Solar of course, is turning out to be quite a success story.

Wind energy also has come down drastically in terms of pricing. The last contract which was bid out, and it was the only first bidding of 1 GW, discovered a price of about 5 US cents. My own sense is that will also look at more affordable levels in the near future.

India in the last 3 years has focused its efforts on creating an ecosystem where we are not looking at short term gains, we are not looking at short term plans. We are looking at bringing into India a framework which holds us in good stead for several years to come, in fact, several decades to come. The entire focus has been not on sorting out issues of an individual nature or sorting out problems faced by one or the other, the effort has been to create a framework which allows everybody an equal opportunity to invest, to do business, to work in India, helps people to look at the long term, create a environment where investment becomes easy, where the policy framework in different sectors is quite predictable, it’s simple to operate in.

And, each of the macro numbers that we have before us today, be it the world’s fastest growing large economy, be it a country which has met its fiscal deficit targets consistently and is now aiming to go down even lower. By 2019, we are looking at a 3% fiscal deficit at the centre.

Inflation is significantly down over the last 3 years, interest rates have seen softening of rates consistently over the last two and a half years. Exchange currency, if you look at the 3 year CAGR, has been quite reasonable, I would think it would be about 3-3.5% over the 3 year period. My own sense, and I have said this on more occasion than one that anybody who comes to India should take a longer term horizon, and on the longer term horizon the Indian Rupee is amongst the most predictable exchange rates. We may have had a few spikes and ebbs along the way, but on a longer term we have always managed to go by about 3-3.5% depreciation in the past.

On a personal note, I wish we would look at Rupee appreciations in the years to come going forward, which would mean great news for all the subscribers to Masala bonds. And, in every respect, you can see things far more robust in terms of an investment climate in India. FDI, probably, is at the highest ever in Indian history right now, and going forward, my own sense is that the Current Account will also be reporting surpluses, starting this year itself.

So, the long and short of it is that we are looking at a situation where the dreams that every Indian has for a better tomorrow are on the way of leading India towards greater prosperity. After all, a billion aspirational citizens is a huge market opportunity and we are very delighted that the people of India are aspiring for a far better quality of life than what they have as of today. Because I believe that you only aspire for more, aspire for better when you trust that the person running your country can deliver on your aspiration.

If you look back 4 or 5 years ago, the sense of despondency that had set into India, the kind of ‘this is how it’s gonna be, this is the kind of life we are going to get’, that mindset today has changed. Today, there is a mindset of want, there is a mindset of desire, there is a mindset of confidence in each one in the country that things are getting better and will only get better henceforth.

As they say, the best way to predict the future is to create it, I think A. Lincoln said that. And that’s what we are trying to do. We are trying to live our dreams. We are trying to live the dreams of every citizen of India. We are trying to accomplish things which were never accomplished before. And, therefore, if one had followed Prime Minister Modi’s statements before the elections when he became Prime Minister, he had focused on a few, in India you call it Mool Mantra, a certain basic principles, a certain commandments, on which he had promised his government would run. While, of course, there was the very implied, implicit and, in fact, even explicit promise of a corruption-free government on which score I do believe, internationally today, India is being recognized as a country moving out of the old age, moving into transparency, moving into equal opportunity for investments to everybody.

But he had talked about Speed, Skill and Scale, when government would carry out its functions, when the country would move forward. He had talked about minimum government and maximum governance. He had talked about doubling farmers’ incomes. He had talked about making India a manufacturing base, strengthening the Indian ecosystem to invite and attract and promote investments in the manufacturing sector. He had talked about making power available for all in the country, round the clock. He had talked about connecting the entire nation through digital technologies and having everybody enjoy what’s happening in the whole world, in the remotest corners of India. He had talked about making it easier to do business in India, making India more competitive in the comity of nations.

And I think on each one of these, the government has made very rapid progress. We have had serious engagement. We have had programmes designed on each one of these objectives. Sometimes some people ask us, why does the government have so many different programmes. You have the Clean India programme. You have the Digital India programme. You have the Power For All programme.  We have the Financial Inclusion programme, where everybody gets connected with bank accounts. We have the programme to clean the rivers of the land. You are looking at getting LPG cylinders or piped gas into every home. Why is the government opening so many fronts at the same time?

And, to those I would like to say that really each one of these programmes dovetails from one to the other. They are all interlinked. After all, the Clean India Mission has a lot to do with the quality healthcare that we want every citizen to have. The cleaning of the rivers is intrinsically linked to better nutrition, to better, again better healthcare for the children and also to environment and pollution. When we talk of Power For All, I think power is that fulcrum around which the entire ecosystem of development would ultimately rest.

Yesterday, at Vienna, we were talking about eliminating poverty and Power For All, and how they too really mesh into one programme. You cannot remove poverty unless you make sure that electricity is available for all. Because electricity gives you connectivity, it helps you with mobile connectivity, it helps you with quality education, it connects children of today with what’s happening in the world. And the list can just go on and on and on.

So, keeping in mind this entire holistic development of a individual, the government has designed different programmes, effort is going on in different directions. We had promised power for all by 2022, when India completes 75 years of independence. On a personal note, I would love to do it by 2019, and I am committed and I am working to make sure that every citizen gets electricity by 2019, some off grid, most people through the grid. I am working to make sure no farmer ever has to lose his crop for want of electricity or water which he could pump up.

We are working to see how we can make the entire infrastructure, the ecosystem around power more robust, more sustainable. We are working to see how our energy mix can help us go into the next decade far more efficiently impacting greenhouse gas emissions on a positive note rather than negatively. And each one of these missions really bring in opportunities for business, bring in opportunities for investment.

In the tube, since we had a journey, and it’s much easier to work in the tube rather than in the car, my colleague and I were sitting and jotting down the possible investment opportunities. I thought I must try and reorient because I used to talk about a trillion dollar opportunity until about 2-2.5 years ago when I became the Minister for the first time. But I have never imagined that solar power is going to become one-third of what it was when I became a Minister. I have not imagined wind power to fall 40% in the very first bidding of 1 GW. At that point of time, I thought a smart meter is going to cost a 100 pounds, I didn’t know that we could possibly do it in 20 pounds, if not a little more or less. My own personal target is 12-13 pounds for a smart meter.

And, all of this is possible when you look at scale. Many of you may be aware what we have done with the LEDs. Prime Minister Modi is an evangelist who believes that energy conservation and energy efficiency is more important than energy generation, given the losses and the high level of losses in India, every kilowatt hour saved is really 1.3 kilowatt hour generated, and potential impact on the environment. So, we looked at our energy efficiency programme and found EESL, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited, selling 600,000 LED bulbs every year, and making a song and dance about it, and selling it at close to 8 pounds per LED bulb, with a government subsidy of a pound thrown in.

Prime Minister Modi said this is not done. Where is the speed in this programme? Where is the scale in this programme? And do it skillfully. And what did we do? We planned to do 770 million LED bulbs in 4 years. I am happy to report to you that in the first 2 years alone, we have been able to sell 500 million LED bulbs in India, 230 million by the same company EESL. So, what they used to sell in one year – 600,000 LED bulbs – they now sell in one day, 600,000 LED bulbs. That’s the potential of Indian companies or Indian businesses and the scale of opportunity that India provides. The private sector has sold another 270 million bulbs in these last 2 years. And I am now quite hopeful that by 2019, India would be 100% LED. Every streetlight in India, every light in the buildings, I wonder what this is?

If it’s not, I am happy to tell you that tomorrow we are launching EESL in London and we have named it the same name as we had in India. It’s called UJALA in India. And our launch tomorrow is going to be – UK Joins Affordable LEDs For All. So we have UJALA coming into, light coming into London via India tomorrow. And, maybe we could even do an MoU with the London Stock Exchange, bring down some of you electricity bills. Even the tube lights can be LED now by the way, and at very affordable prices. But, of course, London Stock Exchange can pay me top pounds also.

But really, that’s what is possible in India. Next stop – 250 million smart meters, replace every meter in the electricity network with a smart meter. We are looking at underground cabling. I am told Gujarat is planning to embark on underground cabling of all the municipalities in their state having run their energy infrastructure very-very efficiently.

So, that’s the scale at which Indian opportunity is coming up. While we did try to make a, hazard a guess on what kind of investments India would need until 2030 on the four sectors under me – Power, Renewable Energy, Coal and Mining. But we didn’t come to a trillion dollars this time around because now all the prices have changed. The LEDs which were being purchased for $4.5 by the government until 2 years ago, are now at just about 15% of that, prices have fallen 85% in 2 years. So, things have changed. Things have become far more affordable. And, we are using intelligent financing models. We are using the best of technologies in all our programmes. We are making sure India does not settle for second best. We are making sure that whatever we do, we will leapfrog into what’s the most modern and efficient way of working. And, I do believe that the time has come where India will lead the world, rather than follow the world in the days to come. We have very exciting plans going forward on a variety of areas.

I am sure Mr Gadkari would have talked about his very very ambitious plans on expanding and strengthening and improving the road network in India, which is very critical to the success of any economy, any country. We are looking at expanding the digital infrastructure very rapidly. You will be amazed at what’s happened on optic fiber. India had 358 kms of optic fiber laid until 2014 – 358 kms. Come 2017, we have crossed 200,000 kms only in 3 years. What does that mean, about 70 times or more? 70 times! Of course, the base was low, but in a country of the dimension of India to expand to 200,000 in less than 3 years just reflects the changing mindset, the changing confidence that government, the people and investors have in the country.

India is open for investments. I will invite all of you not to miss the buzz, because if you had invested in Masala Bonds 2 years ago, or a year ago, you would have got atleast a 150 basis points more. Today, I think, Baiswal, what’s the Effective Interest Rates on these bonds? 7.25! So, those who lose out on this opportunity, be prepared to earn less next time around. But, that’s the story that’s India, that’s the India of today – dreaming, working, planning, aspiring for a far better tomorrow. And I assure you ladies and gentlemen, that tomorrow is going to happen. We are committed to making it happen. I invite all of you to be a part of that journey.

Thank you.