India's energy challenge

Dirty technology is still more advanced than clean technology, and the transition to clean technology must climb several steps to catch up with dirty technology

Policymakers identify the poor state of physical and human infrastructure as the biggest constraint to growth. Energy shortage is still rated as the worst bottleneck. In the summer of 2012, India’s power failure plunged 600 million people into darkness. Power failure is an implicit tax on growth, and this tax is estimated to be 7 per cent of GDP. Firms cope with frequent power failure by purchasing power generators to reduce output losses. India, the third largest energy consumer in the world, is not well endowed with energy resources. 

A lot has been achieved to address India’s energy challenge. Nearly