India needs to increase per capita energy consumption: Economic Survey

India needs to increase its per capita energy consumption at least 2.5 times for increasing the real per capita GDP by 5,000 dollars to enter the upper-middle income group, the Economic Survey 2018-19 said on Thursday.

"India, with a per-capita energy consumption of about one-third of the global average, will have to increase its per capita energy consumption at least 2.5 times," it said.

"If India has to reach the Human Development Index (HDI) level of 0.8, it has to increase its per capita energy consumption by 4 times," the survey said, noting that this will require huge resources.

At the same time, energy efficiency programmes generated cost savings worth more than Rs 50,000 crore and a reduction of about 108.28 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2017-18, it said.

India accounts for around 18 per cent of the world's population but uses only 6 per cent of the world's primary energy, said the survey tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament. The per capita energy consumption equals 0.6 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) as compared to the global per capita average of 1.8 TOE.

"Energy is the mainstay of the development process of any economy. The priority for the government is ensuring access to sustainable and clean energy sources. India's economic future and prosperity is dependent on its ability to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to all citizens," said the survey.

It said future policy direction should orient itself to enhanced energy efficiency programmes in different sectors of the economy as well as technological solutions to better utilise natural resource endowments of the country for greater prosperity.