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ETVBHARAT
  • 1/10/2025
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Transcript
00:00India could never have reached the level of 200 gigawatt today or solar power which is
00:07today anywhere between 75 or 80 gigawatts possibly and aspiring to grow 3x or 4x in
00:15the next 5 years.
00:17It was all possible because of transparency, honest auctions, equal competition for everybody
00:26and the scale being up very significantly.
00:31I remember at that time we inherited a mission to achieve 20 gigawatt in, I don't know, 10
00:39years or whereabouts but we scaled it up to say we will achieve 100 gigawatt of solar
00:47power, 5x.
00:49That was one of the first decisions that Prime Minister Modi took way back in 2014 and as
00:56was his mantra in Gujarat, speed, scale and skill.
01:03He implemented that in his renewable energy program.
01:07We brought scale to the program.
01:10We deftly and very skillfully navigated the whole process and we brought speed to make
01:18growth happen and at Rs. 2.41 which was probably the price we discovered by the second or third
01:26auction itself, we were able to make it a compulsive case for distribution companies
01:33because I personally believe and I have held that belief all through my 10 years in government
01:39that incentives and subsidies only harm a sector.
01:44With due respects to the earlier speaker before me, Mr. Manjeet, I think it was, who was talking
01:52about incentives and subsidies, Manjeet Puri ji, the former ambassador of India to the
01:58EU.
01:59I think he has left the room but he is still there.
02:03I think you have been influenced by the EU too much, Mr. Manjeet.
02:08India's model is self-sustaining.
02:12We stand on our own feet and my own belief is that subsidies and incentives are detrimental
02:21to the long-term growth and development of this sector.
02:25At best, the PLI scheme can help us kickstart the process.
02:31It can help us give an initial boost but ultimately we have to accept that industry
02:38has to stand on its own feet, business has to be a good business case and economically
02:45viable proposition and anything force-fed, anything working on mandates is bound to fail.
02:56I would like to recall a success story that both Ajay and I have shared on many occasions.
03:03Possibly some of you have heard me before and I seek your pardon and your indulgence
03:09for repeating the story.
03:12But the LED bulbs program about which I think you probably might have mentioned in your
03:17earlier engagement was successful.
03:22Our engagement to bring LED into every home and every office, every commercial establishment,
03:28every street light was successful because the first decision that we took was to remove
03:35the subsidy that was being given to every person or every bulb that was sold, every
03:43LED bulb that was sold.
03:45There was a 100 rupee incentive, a 100 rupee subsidy for every LED bulb that a person
03:51would buy.
03:53But because of that subsidy, everybody kept waiting.
04:03The total amount of subsidy was 9 crore rupees in 2014.
04:099 crore may say 3 crore was towards administrative costs because moving a subsidy across the
04:16whole country, you need a whole paraphernalia.
04:21So we were left with 6 crores.
04:28For any of you who have done the maths at 6 crore rupees, 100 rupees a bulb, we only
04:36had subsidy for 6 lakh bulbs in a year.
04:40And if the whole country today of 140 crores, you also in the earlier panel were talking
04:47of the large Indian population as a strength, well if 140 crore people waited for a subsidy
04:56which was given to 6 lakh bulbs in a year.