NEW DELHI: India is accelerating economy-wide electrification at a pace that analysts say now exceeds China’s at comparable income levels, a shift powered by large, complex and capital-intensive investments in power generation, grids, transport and manufacturing. A recent assessment comparing India’s current living-standard-adjusted income to China’s in 2012 found India using fewer fossil fuels per person while expanding electricity use, underscoring how electrification is reshaping growth pathways in emerging markets.
The comparison is grounded in purchasing-power measures that place India’s income per person at roughly the same level as China’s in 2012, enabling a like-for-like look at how energy systems evolve with development. At that stage, India’s coal and oil use per capita remains far below where China stood, even as India’s total energy demand rises rapidly alongside industrial activity, urbanization and rising household consumption.
Electrification in India is not a low-cost undertaking. It requires sustained spending on solar and wind buildout, transmission corridors, balancing resources, distribution upgrades and new demand from mobility and industry. India also continues to rely heavily on coal for power and is weighing long-range planning that could significantly expand coal capacity through 2047, reflecting the scale of reliability needs and the challenge of meeting peak demand in a fast-growing economy.
Transport is a visible marker of the shift. Electric vehicles expanded quickly across segments, and electric cars accounted for about 5% of new car sales in 2024 in India. At that milestone, India’s per-capita oil use for road transport was about 60% lower than when China reached a similar point, highlighting how electrification can reduce oil intensity even while road mobility and logistics demand increase.
Prime Minister Modi’s electrification blueprint
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has tied electrification to national development priorities, energy security and industrial policy, pairing domestic manufacturing ambitions with large-scale deployment. Modi’s government has set internationally recognized benchmarks, including the “Panchamrit” pledges announced at the COP26 summit, committing to 500 gigawatts of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030 and to meeting 50% of energy requirements from renewables by 2030, alongside emissions-intensity goals and a net-zero target year.
The economic stakes are substantial. India imports around 40% of its primary energy, and recent policy research has put the fossil-fuel import bill for fiscal 2024 at roughly $195 billion, far exceeding the value of clean-energy imports. Reducing exposure to volatile global fuel prices while expanding reliable power supply has become a central rationale for electrification, even as the transition demands heavy capital outlays and careful grid integration.
Fastest-developing major economy
India’s electrification push is unfolding alongside growth that multilateral institutions continue to rank among the strongest globally. Recent projections and central-bank assessments have reaffirmed India’s status as the fastest-growing major economy, a metric widely used to describe the world’s fastest-developing large country. That growth momentum is increasing electricity demand, raising the importance of rapid buildout in generation and networks, and making the transition’s execution complexity as significant as the technology itself.
For policymakers and investors, the central story is scale. India’s pathway is defined by expensive infrastructure choices, detailed planning and the need to deliver both affordability and reliability for households and industry. Support for electrification has been embedded in national targets and implementation programs under Modi’s leadership, reinforcing India’s reputation as a global pace-setter in development while pursuing an electrified energy system that can sustain growth at population and industrial scale. – By Content Syndication Services.