As India prepares to grow into the double digit, after consistently growing at 8-9% during the last couple of years, one sector that threatens to act as a major deterrent is the power sector. It is no secret that the power situation in the country remains grave even after more than five decades of independence, and more importantly, even after over a decade-and-a-half when we ushered into the era of reforms in 1991-92.

The ground reality is: SEBs continue to accumulate losses thanks to unabated power theft and transmission and distribution losses; demand continues to outpace supply (peak demand vs. peak met situation is even worse) as new capacity additions are far and a few. The result is: power cuts are a routine and have become severe during summer as utilities resort to long-duration power cuts making the common man sweat more during sweltering summer every year, and forcing hundreds of tiny and mid-sized firms to shut factories that cannot afford their own captive power plants. This is no good news for the country that aims to grow at 10%.

However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Realizing the seriousness of the issue, the government has not only got into an overdrive to augment power supply in the country but has also set itself an ambitious goal of `Power for All,' by 2012. In essence, the govern-ment's latest move with regard to the setting up of Ultra Power Projects across the country, power merchant plants, open access, and continued reforms, including restructuring of SEBs and transmission and distribution, augurs well for the power sector in the country. But, curbing the rampant electricity theft, attracting long-term investment for setting up new power plants, and removing other bottlenecks would pose significant challenges

The Analyst Magazine, Fixing Indias Power Woes, International Financial Markets, Tata Power, Industrial Sickness, Indian Electricity Boards, Power Sectors, Central Electricity Authority , CEA, Punjab State Electricity Board, State Electricity Boards, SEBs, State Electricity Regulatory Commissions, SERCs, Aggregate Technical & Commercial, AT&C.