Madhumitha Jaganmohan
Research expert covering climate and environmental sustainability
Electricity in India - statistics & facts
The first demonstration of electric light in India was conducted in Kolkata (then Calcutta) in mid-1879 during British colonization of the sub-continent. A few decades later, the success of the demo was extended to Mumbai (then Bombay) to set up a generating station to power a tramway in 1905. Over the century, hydroelectric installations were set up in Darjeeling tea estates, streetlights were lit in Bengaluru, and the first electric train ran between Bombay’s Victoria Terminus and Kurla. In 2015, Cochin International Airport became the world’s first fully solar-powered airport with a dedicated solar plant.
The socio-economic growth of the largest democracy in the world seems to be directly proportional to its installation, demand, and consumption of electricity. As of 2022, the electricity consumption per capita was approximately 1.3 kilowatt-hours.
When did India get electricity?
India began using regional, state-based grid management systems for electricity in the 1960s. The project to connect a national grid started in the 1990s and, since December 2013, after establishing connections among the five regional grid systems, the country has had a national grid. Coal is India’s leading electricity source, while renewable electricity generation is slowly but steadily growing. Since 2016, India has been a net exporter of electricity supplying over two terawatt-hours per year to its neighboring countries.The socio-economic growth of the largest democracy in the world seems to be directly proportional to its installation, demand, and consumption of electricity. As of 2022, the electricity consumption per capita was approximately 1.3 kilowatt-hours.
How much of India is electrified?
Despite electricity prices being relatively low in India and despite the steady industry growth, power reserves fail to reach all the nooks and corners of a vast India. In 2018, it was announced by the government that India had achieved 100 percent electrification of all rural and urban households. However, the government considers a village electrified when it has the basic electric infrastructure and when electricity is provided to the public places of the village and at least 10 percent of its households. Although the official number of electrified villages in the country is over 597,000, thousands of rural households are still not connected to the grid or experience frequent power cuts. Electricity blackouts continue to be a pressing issue across all regions in the country that need to be mitigated.
