New Delhi, March 26 India is positioning itself as a global electro-tech manufacturing hub to ensure energy sovereignty, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), adding that as India shows the world a fast track to a superior energy future, other emerging markets are watching.
New Delhi is forging a new path – industrialising on cheap solar and batteries rather than fossil fuels. It is bypassing the fossil fuel detour taken by the West and China, the report states.
In 2012, China had negligible solar, and coal demand showed no signs of slowing.
Meanwhile, India in 2025 generates 9 per cent of its electricity from solar, uses barely a quarter of the coal per person, and is already approaching its coal generation peak.
India’s road oil demand, at 96 litres per capita, is half of China’s at the same stage of development and is unlikely to rise much further.
“Electric vehicles are nearing 5 per cent of car sales, as adoption races up the S-curve. In three-wheelers, India leads the world, with electric models approaching 60 per cent of the market,” the report says.
Moreover, electricity now accounts for nearly 20 per cent of final energy – matching China at equivalent income levels and rivalling advanced economies today.
“When China crossed 1,500 kWh of electricity consumption per person, coal was 10 times cheaper than solar. Today, as India reaches the same threshold, solar plus storage costs half as much as new coal,” reveals the WEF report.
The policy push is also spurring a manufacturing boom. The electronics industry has surged nearly six-fold in a decade to $130 billion – and electronics is the gateway to electro tech.
The capabilities built for smartphones spill over into solar panels, batteries and EVs.
The report mentions that solar module production has grown twelve-fold to 120 GW, more than enough for self-sufficiency.
Cell manufacturing, virtually absent a decade ago, has reached 18 GW. Battery and EV manufacturing are not far behind.
“India is positioning itself to supply electro-tech to the world,” it adds.
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