Slowdown has no bearing on power sector, growing at almost 7 pc: R K Singh

Amid a deepening slowdown in the economy, power demand has stood out, growing almost 7 per cent on the back of the world's largest new consumer addition programme that has taken electricity to almost every doorstep.

In an interview with PTI, Power Minister R K Singh on Thursday said, "Now, we are at a stage where there is universal access to electricity in India. We have left some houses in Chhattisgarh and some hamlets in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. That has led to this growth in electrical industry sector (manufacturing of equipment)."
He also added that those making things such as transformers and conductors got the fillip and are growing at 6.9 per cent. "Our power demand has also grown at 6.7 per cent in the last quarter (April-June) compared to previous quarter."
The minister also said, "(Under the Saubhagya scheme), there is a huge expansion of access in the power sector. In the past 17-18 months, we undertook the largest-ever expansion of access in the world. The International Energy Agency is saying this. We added 26.4 million new electricity consumers in one go."