In recent decades, wind power in India been deployed at a tremendous rate, such that wind power projects now account for two thirds of total renewable energy generating capacity and almost one tenth of total installed generating capacity.

This case study examines one of the policies that is widely considered to be the primary driver behind this expansion—accelerated depreciation (AD) for wind power projects.

The case study reviews the modalities of the policy, focusing on how they have influenced the characteristics of India’s wind power industry. It considers not only the increase in wind power capacity and to what extent this can be attributed to the AD policy, but also how the policy has affected wind power generation and the development of the wind turbine industry in India. The analysis draws on research conducted to date on this and similar policies in other countries (notably the United States), as well as on a series of interviews with industry stakeholders.

Based on this analysis, the case study reflects on the positive and negative lessons that can be drawn from the AD policy and how these lessons could be incorporated into future policies in the sector, both in India and elsewhere.

The Indian government’s declaration of a formal end to diesel price regulation in October 2014 marked the culmination of a two-year process of price reform.

The effective removal of diesel subsidies, although not yet accompanied by comprehensive price decontrol, nevertheless represents an important milestone in the reform of energy pricing in India, and provides policy-makers with a useful case study of successful fossil fuel subsidy reform. This report investigates lessons learned.

This report analyzes kerosene subsidies received by the state governments through the Public Distribution System.

Analysis includes patterns of distribution across income deciles and across states.

This report tracks the most recent national policies on energy subsidies and analyses the government’s subsidy expenditure on different fuels – kerosene, diesel and LPG.

This report brings to light the Government of India’s spending on fuel subsidies.

Patterns of expenditure are broken down by state to reveal which state receives the highest amount of subsidy.

This report from the Global Subsidies Initiative of IISD was launched in conjunction with the Asia Europe Foundation, at a conference exploring the financing of future Sustainable Development Goals (September 29–30, 2014).

The report finds that fossil-fuel subsidy removal and the subsequent taxation of fossil fuels via carbon taxes and VAT could provide significant fiscal resources to Asian governments in order to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via a “Means of Implementation.” The report estimates that in Emerging and Developing Asia fossil-fuel subsidies account for US$104 billion annually, or close to the OECD’s total aid to the developing world. The report analyzes three areas: the potential savings from fossil-fuel subsidies to fund other more productive and targeted government spending, the impact from the persistence of fossil-fuel subsidies on wider proposed Sustainable Development Goals and case studies from the Philippines and Indonesia where governments have reformed fossil-fuel subsidies and been able to channel part of the savings towards social spending and investment in infrastructure. The reports includes a framework for revealing the links between fossil-fuel subsidies, their reform and opportunities for the financing and delivery of the SDGs. It is released as a working paper produced from the GSI with support from the Asia Europe Foundation and core funders. Comments to the author on the paper are welcomed.

In a continent that is starved for energy and infrastructure, it is an enigma that India’s markets for energy efficiency have yet to take off. The authors of the report spent several months researching and debating this issue with stakeholders in India and around the world.

The case for energy efficiency is most certainly well documented. The crux of the problem, however, is that that politicians, policy-makers and financiers have yet to realize that energy efficiency is inexpensive and easily scalable when compared to the development of large-scale power plants. The Indian focus is very much on increasing energy generation rather than avoiding the use of energy in the first place. India needs to value each kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy saved on par with each unit of energy generated. And as such, the first policy choice in the path towards energy security and energy for all must be encouraging industry and consumers to use energy more efficiently. Moreover, decision-makers must realize that if energy is saved where it is easiest—across low-tariff and highly subsidized consumer segments—energy distribution companies (discoms) are able to offer the saved kilowatts (or negawatts) to higher tariff paying consumers.

In short, India’s energy deficit cannot be accomplished without due focus on energy efficiency; to that end, in this document, we present 10 big ideas to make this sector bankable. All of these ideas are practical and implementable in the immediate term. They do not require large executing budgets, but they do require technical expertise, political will and persistent follow up. These ideas are also multi-disciplinary—they provide solutions to prohibitive perceptions of risk in investing and financing energy efficiency, the lack of reliable base lines and poor policy incidence.

On August 12, 2014, Harsha Singh (Senior Fellow at IISD and Senior Associate at ICTSD) was one of many speakers at a conference on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement: Its Impact on India and Developing Nations.

The day-long event, co-organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) was held at the Hotel Oberoi in New Delhi, India, and included sessions focused on the implications of TPP negotiations for India, the implications for likely standards and regulatory changes in India and the future challenges and way forward for India. Singh provided opening remarks for the session on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Negotiations: Implication for Likely Standards & Regulatory Changes in India and was a panelist on the TPP Negotiations: The Future Challenges and Way Forward for India session. This is a background paper written by Singh and distributed to attendees at the conference.

This paper explores the link between fossil-fuel subsidies and gender in India.

It focuses on the likely gender impacts of reform across cooking, lighting, pumping and transport fuels. Research finds subsidies have provided little benefit to the rural population and to the poor, especially to two thirds of people who rely on biomass for cooking. Reform of subsidies should mitigate negative impacts of reform for women, and rather increase access to sustainable energy and empowerment of women. Benefit transfer schemes, designed to compensate fuel users, have not reached women due to a lack of financial inclusion. The report describes existing efforts around gender budgeting within the energy sector, and analyses available time-use and energy household survey data.