Greetings my friends,

The country's energy sector has a big role to play in India's progress and development. This is one sector which has a direct impact on both Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business. Today, when the country is moving ahead with the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat- self-reliant India, the energy sector, our power sector, and emphasis on Renewable Energy has a pivotal role to play. In order to escalate the pace of progress of this sector, viewpoints of many of the experts from this sector have been taken into cognizance prior to the budget. Our team was mindful in aligning your suggestions with the budget.

Today, it’s been more than a fortnight since we announced the union budget. You all have closely scrutinised the implications of this budget on your sector. I am sure you have all deep dived into the aspects which may incur loss, or reap profits and how your sector can leverage higher dividends. I trust your advisors must have put in all the hard work and a blueprint must be ready by now. Now the government and your sector must work in conjunction on the way forward focusing on the actionable points and expediting the implementation of the announcements made in the union budget. Government and Private sector must engage in proactive dialogue and proceed further by developing utmost trust.

Friends,

The government has always maintained a very holistic approach towards the energy sector. You all are fully aware of the state of affairs in the power sector when our party took over in 2014. I believe, I surely do not need to reiterate the dismal situation of distribution companies associated with the power sector. We have made continuous attempts to design and improve the policies keeping in mind the good of both the customers and the businessmen. We are propagating the mantra of Reach, Reinforce, Reform and Renewable energy.

Friends,

As far as the reach is concerned, we have left no stone unturned to arrange the infrastructure required for touching last mile as far as providing electricity in every household is concerned. It is almost like a new world for those people who have received electricity now. Even in 21st century these lives had not experienced electricity.

To reinforce about our capacity, India has transformed from a power deficit country to a power surplus one. In the past few years itself we have enhanced a capacity of 139 Giga watts. India has also attained the target of “One-Nation, One Grid – One Frequency”. This would not have been possible without some reforms. Within UDAY योजना we have issued bonds worth 2 lakh 32 thousand crore rupees. This has encouraged financial and operational efficiencies in the power sector. To monetise assets of the Power grid an infrastructure investment trust - Invit has already been established, and it will soon be opened up for investors.

Friends,

Extra emphasis is being laid on the use of Renewable Energy to meet the requirements of electricity. We have been able to enhance the capacity of Renewable Energy by 2 and half times within the past 6 years. During the same duration, India has seen a 15 times enhancement in the capacity of solar energy. Today, through the International Solar Alliance, India has emerged as the global leader in this sector.

Friends,

To meet the demands of 21st century, India has shown commitment towards inconceivable investment on infrastructure in this year’s budget. Whether be it the introduction of mission hydrogen, domestic manufacturing of solar cells or large scale capital infusion in the renewable energy sector, India is emphasizing on each and every sector. The demand for solar cell in our country for the next 10 years is 12 times more than our manufacturing capacity today. A huge market is awaiting us. You can well imagine the scale of future possibilities and such is magnitude of our country’s needs.

We wish to see our companies not only fulfil the domestic consumption demands but also dominate the world market and emerge as the global manufacturing champions.

Government has connected the ‘High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ with PLI schemes for which it is committed to invest over 4500 crore rupees. These investments will enable India to develop Giga watt level Solar PV manufacturing facilities in India. We are achieving a positive track record of the success of PLI scheme. As soon as we linked mobile manufacturing with this scheme, we started seeing a lot of responses immediately. Now a similar response is expected for 'High Efficiency Solar PV Modules'.

Under the PLI scheme, integrated solar PV manufacturing plants with a capacity of 10 thousand MW will be built and an investment of around Rupees 14 thousand crore is slated to be made on them. The government estimates that this will create demand of more than 17 thousand 500 crores in the coming 5 years. This demand will play a big role in accelerating the development of the entire ecosystem of Solar PV manufacturing.

Friends,    

To increase investment in the Renewable Energy sector, the government has committed to an additional capital infusion of one thousand crore rupees in Solar Energy Corporation of India. Similarly, additional investment of Rupees 1500 crores will be made in Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. This is also a landmark step.

Friends,

To improve Ease of Doing Business in Power Sector, government has also initiated a campaign to improve the regulatory and process framework. We have a different view of how the power sector was perceived earlier. All the reforms being done today are treating power as an independent sector in itself rather than considering it as a part of the energy industry.

The power sector is often seen as a support system of the industrial sector. Whereas electricity itself is important and this importance is not merely due to industries. This is the reason that today so much attention is being given to the availability of electricity for the common people.

The effect of the government's policies is that today India's power demand has reached a record level! We are engaged in removing the problems of power supply and distribution segment across the country. For this, necessary policy and regulatory framework related to DISCOMS are going to be made. 

We are working to reduce the entry barriers in the distribution sector and to make the distribution and supply of electricity license free. The plan is also being worked out by the government to help DISCOMs with infrastructure related to the upgradation of prepaid smart meters and feeder separation systems.

Friends,

Solar energy costs are very low in India. Due to this, people are also adopting solar energy more easily. The PM KUSUM scheme is enabling Annadata- our farmers even become urjadaata-energy providers. Through this scheme, the goal is to create 30 GW solar capacity by installing small power plants in the fields of the farmers. So far, we have installed around 4 GW Rooftop Solar Energy and about 2.5 GW will be added soon. In the next one year and a half, 40 GW of solar energy is targeted to be generated only by Rooftop Solar Projects.

Friends,

In the days to come, we are going to further fuel the efforts to strengthen and improve the power sector. Your recommendations will further reinforce our efforts. Today the power sector of the country is embarking on a new journey with new a vigor. You too must become a partner in this journey. You lead it from the front.

I am hopeful that this webinar today will conclude meaningfully with insights and recommendations contributed by the revered experts. I also trust that your valuable suggestions will consolidate our efforts in implementing the various announcements made in the union budget. To bring out the budget, the entire team in the government has to put in a lot of efforts, observe various perspectives and engage in consultation. In my opinion, indulging in such a humongous exercise soon after announcing the budget is certainly going to be highly beneficial and crucial to implementing the announcements. The time is now gone to spend in what-ifs and conjectures on what could be, what could have been, or reflect on what would have been right. We have to expedite implementation and take up what is now ahead of us. We have started announcing the budget a month ahead, that means we have to step up economic progress a month in advance. The budget is implemented in April and therefore We understand that with respect to infrastructure this phase is extremely valuable. If we initiate a discussion then, we are bound to lose a month of our planning time.

By May end rainy season begins in our country stalling all infrastructure related work for almost three months. If the work is initiated in April month itself, we get a lot of span across the quarter of April to June for infrastructure development. Thus, we are able to evade the challenges of the rainy quarter of July-September. To optimally utilise the time available for implementation we preponed the budget by a month.

The government is taking proactive measures for robust implementation and shall be a step ahead in providing support to all you stakeholders.

Hence, you all should take the benefit. We invite you to come forward with concrete suggestions to implement the announcements made in the budget. My team will brainstorm with you in detail and together we both will actuate the dreams of the nation hand in hand.

With this I extend my best wishes for the success of this webinar. May it be very successful and focussed deliberation. Implementation- my focus area is implementation.

Just reassert this.

Many Many Thanks.

DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.

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DS/ VJ/ SS/AK