LED bulb price falls 10 percent more to Rs.64

The procurement price of light emitting diode (LED) bulbs has fallen further to Rs.64.41 from Rs.73 per unit, the government said on Sunday.

"Government of India, through its flagship initiative Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP), has achieved a further 10 percent reduction in prices of 9W LED bulbs in another round of LED procurement for Madhya Pradesh," a union power ministry statement here said.

"The procurement price has come down to Rs.64.41 (exclusive of taxes) from existing Rs.73, while the efficiency of 9W bulbs has increased by 20 percent," it said.

"In the recent round of procurement of 9W LED bulbs for Madhya Pradesh, the price has come down to Rs.64.41 which is exclusive of taxes. This is a 10 percent reduction from June 2015 price of Rs.73 and about 80 percent reduction from February 2014 price of Rs.310," it added.

The state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) has through a combination of aggregation and transparent procurement, achieved a rapid decline in LED prices making it affordable to the common man, it said.

"This has resulted in significant reduction in transaction cost and time and enhanced process efficiency. This, in turn, has led to a much larger participation of bidders thereby increasing competition and reducing the cost of LED bulbs," it added.

Earlier this week, the government announced that EESL had completed distributing five crore LED bulbs under DELP.

According to EESL, it will be able to distribute seven crore LED bulbs by the end of February, and between nine-ten crore by March 2016.

"Power bills have reduced by Rs.2,500 crore through the distributed bulbs, savings will go up to Rs.45,000 crore annually," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.

"Almost 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide is not being emitted daily due to five crore LED bulbs," he said.