Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal has expressed hope that all the unelectrified villages will be electrified by the end of 2017 and every home will get power by 2018.
After a little over 5,930 villages getting electrified so far in this fiscal, the government has expressed hope that all the unelectrified villages in the country will be energized by 2017-end.
Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal has expressed hope that all the unelectrified villages will be electrified by the end of 2017 and every home will get power by 2018. The Power Ministry in a statement today said that 305 villages have been electrified across the nation during the last week.
“Out of these electrified villages, 53 villages belong to Odisha, 48 in Jharkhand, 44 in Arunachal Pradesh, 42 in Bihar, 34 in Chhattisgarh, 34 in UP, 25 in Rajasthan, 14 villages in Assam, 10 in Manipur and one in Madhya Pradesh,” it said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech yesterday had said that as on April 1, 2015, a total of 18,542 villages were not electrified.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on August 15, 2015 announced that the remaining villages will be electrified within the next 1,000 days. Modi has earlier asked the Power Ministry to target electrification of around 200 villages every week by holding regular follow ups with the state implementing agencies. The villages are being electrified under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY).
“We will soon come out with highly energy-efficient air conditioners on payment plans, so that you can pay for the air conditioner as you save money,”
After the LED bulb distribution scheme, the government is mulling a similar programme under which it will sell on EMI energy-efficient fans and air conditioners at prices much lower than market rates.
“We will soon come out with highly energy-efficient air conditioners on payment plans, so that you can pay for the air conditioner as you save money,” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said addressing a press conference here.
The Minister said that consumers should remove old inefficient air conditioners that consume more electricity. “I do’t want them to be used somewhere else,” he added.
Noting that in middle class households, the largest part of electricity consumption is lights and fans, the Minister said, “Fan is the next thing which we are introducing very soon. It will be a cheaper fan in the market and will be 35 per cent more energy efficient.” “State-run Energy Efficient Services Ltd is shortly introducing energy-efficient fans. They have already tendered the fans at Rs 1,000 per unit as against the Rs 1,500 in market today. There will be taxes and other levies but it will be energy-efficient cheaper fans,” Goyal said.
The government had started Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme last year under which it has already provided over 7 crore LED bulbs to families through power distribution companies at an installment of Rs 10 per month for each bulb. The distribution companies charge the EMI through their electricity bills.
Through the bulk tendering, the government has been able to reduce the procurement price of these LED bulbs from Rs 64.41 in January this year from the market rate of Rs 310 in February 2014.
On Environment Ministry’s tougher norms for power plants relating to consumption of water, particulate matter, SO2, NOx and mercury, Goyal said, “Environment ministry has given very aggressive challenges or targets. I had a discussion with Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on this. We will sit together and see what could be done practically.” Ruling out any change in the norms, he said, “We will not change the norms but give more time to comply with norms. It is humanly impossible to comply with the norms within a period of two years. The equipment required to do that is not available in India. We will calibrate it in coming days.”
While talking to analysts and investors recently, an NTPC executive had told that the company would have to shell out Rs 20,000 crore to meet the norms of environment ministry which translates in Rs 50 lakh per MW capital expenditure.
Under the UDAY scheme meant for the revival of debt ridden discoms, state are taking 75 percent of the debt and issue bonds to pare loans. The discoms will issue state guaranteed bonds for remaining loans to repay the debt.
The Budgetary proposal to double the cess on coal to Rs 400 per tonne will not lead to hike in power tariffs as discoms will benefit a lot from UDAY scheme, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said.
“I do’t see any power tariff going up. The impact of additional coal cess is barely 12 paisa per unit and in the whole context may be Rs 6,000-7,000 crore in a year but saving of UDAY scheme of Rs 1.8 lakh crore is far more than that,” Power Minister Piyush Goyal said.
Under the UDAY scheme meant for the revival of debt ridden discoms, state are taking 75 percent of the debt and issue bonds to pare loans. The discoms will issue state guaranteed bonds for remaining loans to repay the debt. The scheme is expected to help discoms save around Rs 1.8 lakh crore in the next three years. The cumulative debt of discoms is Rs 4.37 lakh crore.
The Budget has proposed to rename Clean Energy Cess’ levied on coal, lignite and peat as ‘Clean Environment Cess’ and its incidence has been increased to Rs 400 per tonne, from Rs 200 per tonne. Goyal was of the view that this will help government garnering money for environment friendly project like solar energy.
He said the Budget has created stronger foundation to help take off projects like Skill India and Jan Dhan Yojana to next level to help the poor. “This government is focused on Jan Dhan Yojana, skill development, Mudra Yojana. This is all for small and medium entrepreneurs and common man,” he added.
He said there are people who trying to project that we are not doing enough for rural India. The minister said the highest number of 300 villages were electrified last week and government will electrify 7,000 villages by March end which would be nearly 37 percent of total target of 18,452 villages by May 1, 2018.
Goyal expressed hope that all unelectrified villages will be electrified by the end of 2017 and every home will get power by 2018. He said that funding is not a constraint for rural electrification programme as Finance Minister has met all request of Power Ministry.
After the announcement of the Union Budget for fiscal year 2016-17, Piyush Goyal told CNBC-TV18 that by the end of 2017, the government will ensure to provide electricity to 18452 villages located in remote locations and aims to provide electricity 24/7 to every household in India by 2019.
Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley has been generous in his budgetary allocation and we will achieve our targets faster than advocated by the Budget, says Piyush Goyal, Minister of Coal and Power .
After the announcement of the Union Budget for fiscal year 2016-17, Piyush Goyal told CNBC-TV18 that by the end of 2017, the government will ensure to provide electricity to 18452 villages located in remote locations and aims to provide electricity 24/7 to every household in India by 2019.
Claiming that he will outperform the Budget allocation and expectations, Goyal said that the citizens can keep an eye on his performance through GARV, an app introduced by the Rural Electrification Corporation ( REC ).
Commenting on green cess, he said that it will add a nominal amount of 12 paise per unit to power generation and will generate revenue of around Rs 8000 crore for the government.
Below is the verbatim transcript of interview with Shereen Bhan on CNBC-TV18.
Q: As far as the rural electrification plan is concerned, the government has allocated Rs 8,500 crore for the Gram Jyoti Yojana but 100 percent rural electrification now being advanced to 2018 May if I am correct?
A: The Honourable Prime Minister had announced on August 15, 2015 that we will make sure within thousand days that electricity gets connected in every village and the power reaches there. We are committed to that. The Finance Minister has been generous with his Budgetary allocation and I assure the nation through you that well before the target, possibly by end of 2017 itself, we will ensure that these 18,452 villages — by the way these are the worst villages, they are at the top of mountains, they are in dense forests, we will make sure the electricity reaches there by end of 2017. An updated figure today of completed village is 5,899. By March, we should cross 7,000. So we have already done one-third of the villages, we are committed to doing this and by 2019, we will also make sure every home gets electricity 24/7.
Q: So you are saying that you will better on what the Budget is articulated in terms of rural electrification rollout?
A: Yes, certainly. We will do it much faster. We are very confident, we have a well rolled out programme, it is available on our app, which I have urged, you and your readers to download. It is an app called Garv and that will help you monitor my performance and keep me in check.
Q: Let me overall ask you because as far as infrastructure investment thrust is concerned between the roads and railways; roads, the allocation of Rs 55,000 crore and another Rs 15,000 crore through bonds, all together with the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) it works out to Rs 97,000 crore and between railways and road it works out about Rs 218,000 crore. Do you believe that when it comes to capital expenditure especially on the infrastructure side is concerned; we will see a significant liftoff?
A: This Budget has focused its energy on an all encompassing vision to take different sectors forward in different ways. If you look at the road and rail sector, they are catalysts of growth of job and employment and they can kick-start many other sectors, be it construction industry, be it electrical industry, be it cement and steel industry, so this has a huge impact, multiplier impact on the economy but this is not all, this is one sector, be it education, be it the rollout of greater healthcare services while rural electrification is going on. They are also focusing on Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY), which has many other dimensions; feeder segregation, it has dimensions of smart metering, it has dimensions of energy efficiency. We are looking at LED rollout for energy efficiency which is the world’s largest programme ever embarked in the history of the world.
Q: Could I ask you about the green cess and what the assumption is as far as the green cess is concerned?
A: There are two elements of this. One is on the coal which has been doubled from 200 to 400, which I welcome. Its impact on power generation is very nominal. It is about 12 paisa per unit and will give the government about Rs 6,000-9,000 crore, which they can deploy for green energy and for the support renewable energy, which is good for all. It adds to India’s energy security and addresses the serious challenge of climate change.
Q: Just on the coal cess, you are saying that it will work out to an additional 12 paisa per unit and the government could mop up between Rs 6,000-7,000 crore on account of the hike in the cess?
A: About Rs 8,000 crore is what I think the Honourable Finance Minister has budgeted, it could be slightly more or less but the bigger picture is that while the Uday comprehensively addresses these issues, we will be saving Rs 1,80,000 crore annually only in the power sector. So this Rs 8,000 crore is very miniscule cost to pay — when you will juxtapose it to the largest saving but this small amount will go a long way for India’s energy security as well as for addressing the climate change issues.
Q: Let me also ask you about what the government intend to do on the fiscal review of the FRBM, in fact the finance secretary also alluding to the fact that it makes more sense now to look at a consolidated fiscal deficit of the centre and the state and there have been concerns on what the UDAY scheme for instance could do as far as the state fiscal deficit is concerned. How does this play out to your mind and what have been the consultations that you for instance have had on the impact of UDAY?
A: Except for one or two individuals in the country or one or two journalists, nobody else has ever criticised UDAY or found any problem with the scheme. What we have only done is, we have converted a de facto borrowing of state into a de jure borrowing. This borrowing was already there, there is no additional borrowing. It is just that it was parked into DISCOM but the whole world knew and I talked to several rating agencies, they were already factoring in this borrowing as a part of the fiscal problems of the state. So let me reassure that we are not causing any additional borrowing.
On the contrary we are solving the distress of the banking sector which could otherwise have been faced with colossal problem much worse than today. We are at the same time strengthening the DISCOMs so that they can purchase more electricity and serve the people with 24/7 power, something they have not been doing for lack of ability to buy power and as a consequence we will save the banking sector from another three or four lakh crore of stressed assets and stranded assets which otherwise do’t have demand.
Therefore, UDAY has comprehensively resolved these problems and almost unanimously across the world people have appreciated the deep impact and the transformative impact, UDAY will have for a permanent resolution of the power sector problems.
Q: Since you were talking about stalled projects also, the government in order to expedite investments into the infrastructure sector is looking at a public utility resolution bill. It is also looking at bringing in some PPP, concession agreement guidelines which will be issued. Can you take us through what this would mean specifically for the power sector?
A: In the power sector the regulatory issues are not something which is causing any concern. There were a few issues particularly related to change in domestic laws which we have already addressed through the tariff policy which the Union Cabinet approved some time back. There are’t any significant challenges as such and those that are there are already under consideration of the regulatory authorities. So, really that mechanism will be more useful in other PPP projects particularly relating to the road sector.
In the power sector by and large issues are all getting resolved. If we still have any issues we will be happy to get it resolved through the new mechanism that is being evolved. I do’t see any great problem in sorting it out bilaterally.
Q: Now that the Budget is out of the way when can we expect some movement on the pending big ticket items as far as your ministry is concerned? When do you now move on UMPPs, when do we finally see you move as far as the plug and play model is concerned as well?
A: In fact all these days we have been working to ensure that the UMPPs that we take out are on a plug and play and which is why there were some time taken. We do’t want to do a half baked auction which leads to further stress and stranded projects. Also we are calibrating the demand supply situation to ensure that these projects come up simultaneously with adequate demand in the system.
Having said that we are coming out with significant improvements in the grading of coal so that quality issues related to coal get resolved. We are coming out with a comprehensive set of guidelines for coal swapping and exchange of coal initially between public sector and government entities, later between private sector and government or private sector and private entities also so that we can rationalise the consumption and movement of coal to bring down the stress and cost on the system.
We are also looking at certain transformational plans on the transmission side. You are aware that we have added 71 percent transmission capacity to south India in the last 18 months. We will add a further 80 percent in the next 18 months. So, effectively 3-3.5 years of Prime Minister Modi’s government and we would have done a 3x growth in the transmission to south India and permanently solve their problem and at the next level we will do a doubling of that in two years after that. So, effectively in six year India would have added five times the transmission what we inherited in 2014.
Coal production is on a roll. We are already at about nine percent growth this year on the back of 6.9 percent growth last year. Both years put together would possibly take growth to a level which has been not seen in the history of India and would actually add more coal than was added in the last 7 or 8 years in two years alone. So, in effect this government is focusing on a self reliant, vibrant economy where power for all is a given.
Q: I am digressing away from your ministries and asking you a rather over arching question as far as the Budget is concerned. This has to do with the government’s intent to try and address the legacy retrospective issues. They have opened up a window giving an opportunity to the likes of Vodafone to come to the table, pay the principal amount and the government will waive off the arrears as well as the interest. The question is and I am quoting to you what P Chidambaram told me in an interview that you have 282, you are a majority government but you are acting like you are a minority government. You could repeal the retrospective tax amendment altogether, why do’t you go all the way?
A: If we repeal the amendment we will be doing a retrospective change which we are committed not to do. P Chidambaram is getting wiser out of government than he was in government. In the first place this tax was ill-conceived. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and me both are on record in the Rajya Sabha for wholesomely criticising this tax when it was brought in.
Q: You can address that issue now. P Chidambaram did not have the numbers, you have the numbers. You can address these issues.
A: If they did not have the numbers how were they in the government. They should have left the government and resigned and gone away. They had the numbers in a coalition which they should have used. I think that is a lame excuse for a former finance minister to give. He should truly appreciate that honourable Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has bitten the bullet and look at the logic behind this. The tax is a fact, it has been brought in my the last government. Obviously since the Supreme Court had also ruled that it is not taxable, it is quite clear that the tax payers themselves could not have understood that this tax is payable.
So, levying tax and penalty on them or interest and penalty on them is grossly unfair. So, Finance Minister is taking a right path. Now that it is a part of the statute the tax certainly is payable but because it was not out of any deliberate effort not to pay the tax because it was an interpretation which even the Supreme Court had upheld, it is only appropriate that interest and penalty should be waived. I think it is a win-win solution and my own informal discussions tell me that most of these companies will be delighted to settle these matters and close it once and for all.
Q: You are saying you have had informal discussions with companies like Vodafone and you believe that they will take up the government on this offer?
A: I have not had informal discussions with the companies but I have certainly had informal discussions with tax experts who agree with this thinking. Now that the tax has come on the statute everybody understands that it will payable. Their bigger angst is that why should they pay interest and penalty when even the Supreme Court had understood the interpretation in the same way that they had. So, these are informal discussions with tax experts who have just given us the way out of this controversy.
India’s energy dialogue with the US, Japan and Australia aims to build upon the groundwork prepared by Narendra Modi for providing 24X7 affordable electricity, coal, power and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal tells TOI as he trawls the world for fuels, funding and technology. Excerpts:
What are you putting on the table for overseas investors?
Trust. Prime Minister Modi has been able to lay the foundation of trust in India. These countries and their business communities impart a huge amount of value to whether they can trust the leadership of the day, whether they can trust the nation where they are going to put their money, their investments; whether they can work in an environment which is investor-friendly and honest, where they will not be discriminated against when competing with other countries or where they will not have to have extraneous considerations while taking business decisions. This huge change in the leadership and its style of working can best be captured in the word ‘trust’. And to my mind, it’s this trust which has been the game-changer in the level of engagement that investors, particularly from Europe, Japan, the US and now from Australia are looking to benefit from.
What is the philosophy driving India’s energy engagement with foreign governments?
Each of the three countries has important offerings. Each has several strengths. The US could be a source of large amounts of capital, Japan most successful technology and innovation, Australia fuel sources — coal, gas; and within that clean coal; and again within that, coal-to-gas technology. So each country has one unique and most defining feature but around that there are several elements of engagement.
We will try and look at how we will get the best in class of each country to further India’s interests, to provide 24X7 affordable energy access to our people. But, we do’t have to depend on one engagement or one country or one technology. We want the best of what we offer our people, the best from around the world. We are shopping around for who gives us the best investment terms, who gives us the best technology, who is willing to come and make in India so we provide jobs to our people; who is willing to engage with us to help us keep our power cost the lowest. India is open to business, India wants to actively expand in this area, but on terms which are favourable to India, on terms which serve our people the best. Our job is to ensure that India’s interests are protected, India’s interests are furthered, India’s interest always remain paramount in all the work that each one of us is doing.
What differentiates the Modi government’s energy policy planning?
The very fact that PM Modi, when he was chief minister of Gujarat, was able to turn around an ailing sector. A sector which was inefficient, inapt in its working; lethargic, making losses as high as Rs 2,500 crore per year 15 years ago, not able to serve its customers with quality power, timely power. At that point of time, Gujarat had the costliest power. In a short span of 3-4 years, then CM Modi was able to turn around these loss-making utilities. He was able to provide power for all his citizens 24X7.
He was able to give his farmers adequate power so their productivity increased. Industry was assured of power so he got investments into the state and created jobs and a situation arose in all of Gujarat that there was no unemployment. Now in that situation, he realises the importance of power in the development of the nation and people’s lives.
When he took charge of the government at the Centre, he focused on a 360-degree comprehensive planning, with the single objective of serving the people with 24X7 power, making India power surplus so more and more investments and jobs can be created.
But he is very conscious of the environment as he says very often that he wants ‘zero-defect, zero-effect’ development. Sustainable development is at the core of his agenda. So he also ensures that there is energy security and energy sustainability when we do energy planning. In that sense, he focused his energy first to create a robust plan, prioritise what are the issues that are causing this problem in the country.
He did a root-cause analysis to understand the things we need to set right. He made sure that we do’t allow power prices to go up indiscriminately but keep prices low, particularly because he recognises that the poor do not have the ability to spend very large sums on power.
He focused his energy on renewable energy because that not only provides energy security and gives you many years of fixed-price power but is also something totally in our control. We are not dependent on any foreign country.
So this kind of a holistic framework and plan to reach power to every home at affordable prices has been drawn up under his visionary leadership. We learnt a lot from his success in Gujarat. We continue to learn from different experiments in all the states where we have been able to do some innovation or the other, and through the partnership of Team India, through the partnership of all stakeholders, be it coal companies, power companies, state governments, be it local bodies, discoms, bankers — everybody together is working to make this dream a reality.
India’s geographical location could make it an ideal energy trading hub for a vast market, that could potentially stretch from Iran to Myanmar or even southeast Asia. We have limited power trade with Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal. When do we see a policy framework for free flow of energy across borders, at least in the Saarc region to begin with?
There cannot be a one-size-fits-all policy for cross-border trading. This has to be calibrated according to our engagement with each country, based on the geopolitical situation, diplomatic relations. Power trading can become one element of our engagement with neighbours. We are very excited about exchanging the energy trade with all neighbours, particularly the Saarc countries.
We are open to all ideas because we have surplus power in the country today and can easily serve the needs of our neighbours. At the same time we are investing heavily in our neighbouring countries who can provide hydro power to serve our interests, particularly in the eastern parts of India.
It is again going to be part of our diplomatic initiatives, as well as economic interests of both countries, to expand this trade. It will happen by and by and as each country and the government of India come to terms and (which) will vary from country to country.
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“India can use Australian expertise in rooftop solar as almost a third of Australian homes in some states are using rooftop solar,” Goyal said while speaking at a round table on ‘Renewable Energy Challenges for Grid Integratio’ at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) here.
Keen to tap Australia’s rooftop solar expertise, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said there is need for the technology transfer at affordable rates for efficient expansion of renewable energy in India.
“India can use Australian expertise in rooftop solar as almost a third of Australian homes in some states are using rooftop solar,” Goyal said while speaking at a round table on ‘Renewable Energy Challenges for Grid Integratio’ at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) here.
The Australian expertise in scheduling and forecasting solar generation to enable grid integration would be “welcomed by Indian companies”, the minister said.
“It is crucial for the prices of renewable energy to be comparable to coal-based thermal power to be viable in India,” he said.
While emphasising that the technology transfer needs to be affordable, Goyal said that the Australian technology can help in efficient renewable power and grid integration in India. The technology transfer should be through strong educational and research collaboration between Australian (UNSW) and Indian organisations (like National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE).
The power sector in the country is at an inflection point and the focus is on developing an integrated outlook with transparent policies on tariffs and fuel pricing which enhance the ease of doing business, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here.
India is expected to spend a whopping USD 1 trillion (about Rs 65 lakh crore) by 2030 on ramping up its power infrastructure as one of the world’s largest energy consumers aims to provide 24/7 electricity to its citizens.
The power sector in the country is at an inflection point and the focus is on developing an integrated outlook with transparent policies on tariffs and fuel pricing which enhance the ease of doing business, Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here.
“When the world is witnessing a depressed economic atmosphere and there is almost no growth, India is a shining spot. We will use this image and further strengthen it to invite countries such as Australia to invest in the country,” he told PTI on the sidelines of the India-Australia Energy Dialogue.
India and Australia should come together and invest in several fields, with energy being an important dimension.
India’s focus is on LNG for power plants, coal mining, clean coal technologies, renewable energy, R&D as well as tie-ups with premier research institutes, he added.
“We are a very big and growing market. It is estimated that India will spend around Rs 65 lakh crore on the power sector in the next 15 years to meet its growing demands and providing clean, affordable and 24/7 electricity to its citizens,” said Goyal, who also holds the Coal and Renewable Energy portfolios.
Goyal is leading a high-level government delegation to deliberate with Australian government and businesses on ways to increase their participation in India’s power sector. An industry delegation, led by business chamber CII, is also accompanying the minister.
India has set an ambitious plan to add 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. The country aims to have 100 GW of solar power by 2022 along with 260 GW of thermal and nuclear generation and 62 GW of hydro generation capacity.
As per International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates, India would invest about USD 845 billion in T&D (transmission and distribution) networks between 2015 and 2040 to ensure universal access to power for customers.
Explaining the steps taken by his ministry to provide clean energy, the minister said India has one of the toughest regulations on thermal power.
“Our Prime Minister has pledged his commitment towards protecting the environment and we are working on his vision.
Our norms on thermal power are more stringent that those in some of the developing countries,” he noted.
The minister said for India to further strengthen its position on creating a sustainable environment and at the same time expand the economy, it has to seek cooperation from countries working on clean energy technologies and utilise them.
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