Mumbai:  Mr. P. Uma Shankar, Power Secretary, Ministry of Power, estimates Rs 6.5 lakh crore (US$ 147 billion) in revenues from the Power Transmission & Distribution (T&D) sector during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17).

Kick starting the road show for India’s largest T&D expo ELECRAMA 2012 organised by IEEMA , Mr. Uma Shankar said: “The government is looking at revenue estimates of Rs 2.5 lakh crore (US$ 56 billion) from transmission and Rs 4 lakh crore (US $ 91 billion) from distribution in addition to Rs 6.5 lakh crore (US $ 147 billion) from generation totaling Rs 13 lakh crore (US $ 294 billion) in revenue from the Power Sector. To achieve this, the Power Ministry is seriously working on a blue print factoring three key areas: transmission, distribution and HR.”

He added: “In this direction, ELECRAMA 2012 is turning out to be a perfect platform for the Ministry of Power, its stakeholders and suppliers. ELECRAMA will basically help India showcase its capabilities and it is the best platform to share knowledge and information.”

Mr. Umashankar said: “The plan is to generate 17,000 MW power during this period. There are lot of opportunities – we really have to ramp up the distribution segment particularly the financial side.”

Mr. Vimal Mahendru, President – IEEMA, the organizers of ELECRAMA said, “IEEMA has been recently invited by the Department of Heavy Industries to assist in developing the Electrical Industry Mission Plan, which will be the guiding document for various stakeholder ministries, regulators and the Planning Commission for the coming ten years. Our per capita electricity availability has almost doubled from approximately 400 Kilo Watt Hours in 2003 to approximately 734 Kilo Watt Hours today. By any stretch, this can be considered commendable progress. And yet, we are well below global average. Issues like these, including Renewables and SMARTGRID will be further discussed and leveraged at ELECRAMA 2012.”

In her inaugural speech Mrs. Indra Prem Menon, Chairperson, ELECRAMA 2012, said: “We are glad to present ELECRAMA 2012 to India and to the world. 200 transformer manufacturers, 300 global conductor manufacturers and 200 control and system manufacturers and 41 delegations from 130 countries have signed for ELECRAMA 2012. This year, the Power Ministry is providing critical support to ELECRAMA and we are expecting huge inward investments.”

She said that the Government is aware that the Indian power sector today needs to replicate what has been achieved during the last 50 years in the next 10 years in order to reach the target of ‘power for all by 2017’. Government’s emphasis on the transmission and distribution sector reforms and investments are showing signs of fruition, thus creating a phenomenal growth opportunity for the Indian Power sector. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises are also actively supporting ELECRAMA 2012.

At the road show it was revealed that India is on the cusp of infrastructure revolution and the Power sector has a key role to play. As per estimates, US$ 600 billion (Rs 27,00,000 crore) of planned investments in Power generation, transmission and distribution are at various stages of progress and ELECRAMA 2012 will play a huge catalyst role in bringing investors, manufacturers and decision makers together. In its 10th edition ELECRAMA, a global platform, organized by IEEMA will position India in the right perspective.