Renewable energy is a thrust area for the government of India. Efforts are on to clear bottlenecks that hamper the setting up of large power plants. After addressing the major concerns about coal availability, the focus has now shifted to the T&D (transmission and distribution) sector. The poor financial health of discoms is a major concern both for the government and IEEMA (Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association) members. Babu Babel, president, IEEMA, spoke to Kritika Pandey of Electronics Bazaar about these issues.
EB: What are your key focus areas?
We are working on a strategic road map to carry the major industry issues forward. The key goal is to make the association relevant to its members and help the industry contribute to the collective national targets in the power sector. This will involve:
- An integrated approach with various divisions to effectively represent the industry’s interests when it comes to various government policy bodies, regulatory bodies and standards committees.
- Offer assistance to the Central and state governments in their efforts to improve the T&D networks and reduce losses – to continue the utility outreach programmes.
- Support the SME and non-utility segments of the electrical industry, as required.
- Focus on quality, reliability and growth in exports. Support the skills enhancement efforts of the government.
- Effective brand building, through world-class exhibitions, seminars and interactions with key players.
- Interaction with other leading industry associations and educational institutes.
EB: What are the key industry issues that you plan to deal with?
Some of the key issues are:
- Under-utilisation of established manufacturing capacities across the industry.
- The need for a level playing field against dumping and cheap low quality imports.
- The need for change in buying practices by government organisations to take care of overall ownership costs rather than the lowest initial cost.
- Ease of doing business with government organisations.
- Wide currency fluctuations.
- Non-tariff barriers faced by exporters.
EB: What do you feel about the recent policy changes and initiatives undertaken by the government?
Making affordable uninterrupted electricity easily available continues to be a major thrust area for the government. Renewable energy is a thrust area. Efforts are on to clear bottlenecks that hamper the setting up of large power plants. After addressing the major concerns about coal availability, the focus has now shifted to the T&D sector. The poor financial health of discoms is a major concern both for the government and our members. The high T&D losses continue to be a worry. The government is working on an action plan. We have been asked to provide our suggestions. The government is also working aggressively on two major power related schemes — IPDS (Integrated Power Development Scheme) and DDUGJY (Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyothi Yojana). Our inputs are being provided through product divisions.
EB: What steps does the government need to take in order to ensure ‘Make in India’ becomes a real success? What is IEEMA’s role in it?
The ‘Make in India’ initiative is perhaps one of the most important programmes being pursued by the government of India. The central theme is about transforming India into a manufacturing hub with world class technology. IEEMA, being one of the proud partners of the ‘Make in India’ campaign, has identified a four-point agenda and has been vigorously promoting this with the policy makers, so as to positively impact ‘Made in India’ products with state-of-art technology.
Moreover, the electrical equipment manufacturing technology is witnessing significant modernisation while new technology is also being adopted in the manufacturing processes. Technological advancements, like smart grids and policies on emission reduction, will influence the future direction taken by the power sector and the electrical equipment industry in various countries.
EB: What are the policy changes that IEEMA is pursuing with the government? How do you see these changes leading to the betterment of the industry?
The Department of Heavy Industries has formed a committee to increase R&D activities in the electrical sector and IEEMA is actively participating in it. Our members have done some exceptional work in areas of 1,200kV design. A lot more can be done and we are creating awareness about this.
EB: Indian power companies want a blanket ban on Chinese equipment. What is your take on this?
Awarding projects related to power generation, transmission and distribution networks to Chinese companies will be a serious threat to national security as the electric distribution system carries power to pipelines, water systems, telecommunications and other critical infrastructure, while also serving critical government or military facilities. The need of the hour is not to protect the Indian industry but to intelligently safeguard our business and economy from a neighbour whose intentions are suspicious, particularly when pricing and business are neither rational nor driven by the market, in China. India’s IT prowess and its capability to address complex security issues are well known. The entire world depends on our expertise. We have an evolved electrical equipment manufacturing base as well. Why should we not entrust this industry to collectively safeguard our key power sector installations?
EB: What, according to you, are the reasons for the low adoption of smart metering in India – is it because of low demand or lack of technologies? What are the new technology trends in energy meters, globally and in India?
I think the government should take the initiative to conduct various training programmes involving IT experts, metering experts, communications experts, power distribution experts, users and network service providers, so that they can share their experience with the power sector employees for their skills to get upgraded. This will help the utilities to move forward towards automation of the power sector, which is the need of the hour. In the next five years, I see industry moving towards smart metering/AMI solutions. But this can only be achieved if the government takes the bold decision of implementing smart meter technology without considering costs. Prices would automatically go down with the mass roll-out of solutions.
EB: How will the government’s UDAY scheme help the T&D sector?
It is a very positive step as this programme will focus on increasing productivity, decreasing costs and enhancing fiscal discipline by involving states directly. UDAY will also help the banking sector, as banks too cannot hold such large non-performing loans. The industry is determined to support the government; however, the key thing would be to tackle losses that arise from power theft and unsustainable direct subsidies. IEEMA already has a programme to reach out to the distribution companies and aid them with technical solutions for complex problems in order to mitigate losses and enhance revenues.
