Government Released Rs 1667.99 Crores and Rs 366.47 Crores for Installation of Solar and Wind Energy Projects

The total installed capacity in the country from solar power was 8727.64 MW and from wind power was 28279.40 MW as on 31.10.2016. This was stated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Shri Goyal further informed that Ministry has released amount of Rs 1667.99 Crores and Rs 366.47 crores for installation of solar and wind energy projects respectively till 31st October 2016 in different State/UTs. The details for last three years are as follows:

Year	Total funds released for solar energy projects (Rs. in Crore)	Total funds released for solar energy projects (Rs. in Crore)
2013-14	692.28	306.00
2014-15	1158.19	568.00
2015-16	3146.24	316.94
2016-17 (till 31.10.2016)	1667.99	366.47

“The potential of wind and solar in the country has been estimated to be 302251 MW and 784990 MW respectively”, he added.

Government ‘Ease of Doing Business’ meeting aims to raise India’s ranking among top 50 in the World Bank report

Government of India, in its efforts to improve the business climate of the country and also improve country’s ranking in the World Bank report on Doing Business, held a meeting on 19 December, 2016 under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Finance Minister. In the meeting, secretary, DIPP informed that Nodal Departments have been identified for each indicator who will lead the reform process ensuring country’s improvement in ranking across the 10 indicators. Departments gave a brief overview of the reforms undertaken recently and agreed to implement the suggested reforms by January, 2017. It was further agreed that the Departments will hold intensive stakeholder consultation to get their feedback on the reforms undertaken and also engage with the respondents to ensure that the reforms are felt at the ground level. In this regard, each Department shall review the progress every week for carrying out the necessary reforms. Some of the main decision taken during the meeting were -

1. eBiz portal shall be mandated for starting a business which shall include three functions of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Registration for PAN and TAN and also registration for EPFO & ESIC.

2. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, CBDT, Ministry of Labour& Employment will work towards reducing the number of procedures for starting a business to 4 and the number of days to start a business also to 4.

3. ShramSuvidha Portal shall be the only portal for filing the return, challan and making online payment for EPFO & ESIC.

4. Department of Revenue and Ministry of Shipping shall work towards increasing the number of direct delivery consignments to 40 percent by end of this month. The Departments shall also ensure that the cost and time to export and import gets reduced substantially to bring India within top 50 ranks.

5. Ministry of Corporate Affairs shall work with the concerned stakeholders so that the provisions as recently enabled under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code are implemented through NCLT.

6. To further improve country’s ranking in the indicator of ‘Getting Credit’, Department of Financial Services and Ministry of Corporate Affairs shall work towards integrating CERSAI database with ROC Registry of Charges to create a single registry of assets.

7. In the indicator of Enforcing Contracts, Hon’ble Commerce and Industry Minister mentioned that country ranks poorly at 172 on this indicator and efforts need to be taken on many reforms to bring the country among the top 50 nations. She also mentioned that initiative of eCourts should be expedited for electronic filing of complaints, summons and payments especially in the Commercial Courts.

8. On ‘Construction Permit’, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development mentioned that the procedures shall be brought down to 8 within 60 days. However Hon’ble Finance Minister desired that Department should explore the possibility of commencing the construction on architect’s certification and approval granted only at the time of the occupancy of the building.

The next review of the progress made on reforms shall be done in the end of January to ensure their implementation.

The meeting was attended by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development; Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law and Justice; Smt. NirmalaSitharaman, Minister of Commerce & Industry, ShriPiyushGoyal, Minister of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy and ShriArjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Finance) as well. Secretaries of Departments also participated in the meeting including DEA, DIPP, MCA, Justice, MoUD, Civil Aviation, DoR, D/o Land Resources, CBEC Chairperson & Chief Secretary of NCT of Delhi and top officials of Govt of Maharashtra.

LED Retail Prices come down to Rs. 65 under UJALA Scheme; 17.90 Crore LED bulbs distributed across the Country

Total Savings amount to 23.25 Billion KWH per year and an avoided Capacity Generation of 4,656 MW

Achieving efficient implementation of the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) Scheme, the aggregation of demand and bulk procurement by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has resulted in huge savings for the consumers across the country. This was stated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, in a reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Giving the details, the Minister informed that the e-procurement of LED bulbs through a transparent and competitive bidding process has resulted in reduction of approximately 88% in procurement prices of LED bulbs from Rs.310 in February, 2014 to Rs.38 in August 2016, the retail price being reduced from Rs.550 to Rs.65, which is passed on to the consumers.

As on 21.11.2016, 17.90 Crore LED bulbs have been distributed to households across the country, that resulted in avoided capacity generation of 4,656 MW and a saving of 23.25 billion KWh per year, Shri Goyal further added.

Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, launched the National LED programme on 5th January, 2015, which is being implemented by EESL, a joint venture company of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under Ministry of Power.

The Minister informed about the details of the programme and said that EESL aggregates demand across the country and procures LED bulbs for further distribution to domestic consumers at lower rates compared to retail market. EESL has developed an innovative business model in which the entire investment in these programmes is made by it and is paid back over a time from energy savings. This obviates a need for any government funding for this programme. There is no element of subsidy in the scheme.

In a reply to another question, the Minister said that UJALA Scheme covers Urban as well as backward, rural, semi-urban and remote areas. EESL has initiated nationwide implementation of the programme to replace 77 crore incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs by March, 2019. This will result in an estimated avoided capacity generation of 20,000 MW and save 100 billion KWh per year. Shri Goyal also informed that there is no proposal to revamp the funding and execution pattern of ‘LED distribution scheme’. The details of State/UT-wise Street lights replaced and quantum and value of energy conserved under UJALA scheme, as on 25.11.2016, is given below:

S.No.	States & UTs	No. of LED bulbs Distributed	Energy saved per year (in Million Units)	Estimated savings per year in Rupees (Crores)
1	Jammu & Kashmir	3,426,861	445.5	178.2
2	Punjab	57,679	7.5	3.0
3	Haryana	7,476,754	972.0	388.8
4	Uttarakhand	3,378,952	439.3	175.7
5	Himachal Pradesh	6,766,201	879.6	351.8
6	Delhi	7,476,754	972.0	388.8
7	Uttar Pradesh	11,134,639	1447.5	579.0
8	Rajasthan	11,880,209	1544.4	617.8
9	Gujarat	27,382,053	3559.7	1,423.9
10	Madhya Pradesh	8,808,846	1145.2	458.1
11	Bihar	7,528,176	978.7	391.5
12	Sikkim	1,397	0.2	0.1
13	Maharashtra	20,010,593	2601.4	1,040.6
14	Jharkhand	7,530,467	979.0	391.6
15	Chhattisgarh	5,698,225	740.8	296.3
16	Odisha	7,260,892	943.9	377.6
17	Nagaland	58,238	7.6	3.0
18	Assam	439,000	57.1	22.8
19	Meghalaya	50,799	6.6	2.6
20	Mizoram	9,752	1.3	0.5
21	Andhra Pradesh	19,025,756	2473.3	989.3
22	West Bengal	340,853	44.3	17.7
23	Telangana	560,485	72.9	29.1
24	Goa	720,582	93.7	37.5
25	Karnataka	13,522,393	1757.9	703.2
26	Tamil Nadu	61,018	7.9	3.2
27	Kerala	7,750,299	1007.5	403.0
28	Daman & Diu	95,010	12.4	4.9
29	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	81,177	10.6	4.2
30	Lakshadweep	100,000	13.0	5.2
31	Andaman & Nicobar Island	400,000	52.0	20.8
32	Puducherry	609,251	79.2	31.7
	Total	179,643,311	23353.6	9,341.5

Shri Goyal added that under the National LED programme, the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) has also been initiated wherein street lights respectively are replaced with LEDs. The details of State/UT-wise Street lights replaced and quantum and value of energy conserved under SLNP scheme, as on 25.11.2016, is given below:

S. No.	States & UTs	No. of Street Lights replaced	Energy saved per year (in MUs)	Saving per year in Rupees (Crores)
1	Andhra Pradesh	557,760	70.863	28.345
2	Bihar	150	0.019	0.008
3	Delhi	216,678	27.529	11.012
4	Himachal Pradesh	3,957	0.503	0.201
5	Kerala	9,657	1.227	0.491
6	Maharashtra	12,722	1.616	0.646
7	Puducherry	300	0.038	0.015
8	Rajasthan	533,754	67.813	27.125
9	Telangana	2,671	0.339	0.136
10	Tripura	36,789	4.674	1.870
11	Uttar Pradesh	30,823	3.916	1.566
12	Assam	4,498	0.571	0.228
13	Gujarat	12,989	1.650	0.660
14	Jharkhand	2,800	0.356	0.142
15	Madhya Pradesh	3,789	0.481	0.192
16	Punjab	2,812	0.357	0.143
17	West Bengal	300	0.038	0.015
18	Jammu & Kashmir	500	0.064	0.026
19	Uttarakhand	500	0.064	0.026
20	Goa	400	0.051	0.020
	Total	1,433,849	182.169	72.868