The Energy Regulation and Markets Review - Stikeman Elliott

Chapter 10
India
Akshay Jaitly, Sitesh Mukherjee, Neeraj Menon and Vibhu Sharma 1
I
OVERVIEW
As energy consumption burgeons with economic development, urbanisation and
population growth in India, demand outstrips supply and resources available. The
government of India commenced liberalising the energy market in 1991. Thereafter, a
spate of legislative and policy changes in the electricity as well as the oil and gas sectors
have been brought into force to bolster energy output, increase private participation
and price efficiency. To meet domestic energy requirement, India imports significant
quantities of coal, oil and natural gas. Even in pursuing its nuclear energy agenda, India
is dependent on uranium imports. In addition to relying on imports, India has made
significant investment in energy resources in over 30 countries. 2 Dependence on fossil
fuels is likely to continue at least into the near future; however, energy security is also
being pursued through clean energy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (‘the
Renewable Energy Ministry’) forecasts that the annual clean energy investment in India
will grow by as much as 763 per cent over the next decade.
II
REGULATION
i The regulators
The power sector is governed by the federal government through, primarily, the Ministry
of Power and the Renewable Energy Ministry. The Department of Atomic Energy 3 is in
1 Akshay Jaitly and Sitesh Mukherjee are partners, Neeraj Menon is a counsel and Vibhu Sharma
is an associate at Trilegal.
2 Some of these countries are Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Sudan,
Venezuela, Vietnam and the United States.
3 Which is directly under the Prime Minister’s charge.
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