Indian energy sector needs $120-150 bln over 5 yrs

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) India's power and upstream energy sectors such as coal, oil and gas need investments worth 120-150 billion dollars over the next five years, according to a KMPG report released here today.

The report titled 'India Energy Outlook 2007', underlines the recent efforts by the Government in recognising the need for private participation and ensuring that policies to promote investments are being implemented.

''Private participation in coal mining for captive use, in oil and gas exploration and in the power sector is already seeing significant progress. It is also expected that private participation in nuclear energy would be allowed as and when the Indo-US Nuclear deal goes through,'' it said.

By world standards, India's current level of energy consumption is very low. For the year 2004-05, the total annual energy consumption for the country is estimated at 572 Mtoe (million tons oil equivalent) and the per capita consumption at 531 kgoe (kilograms oil equivalent).

However, with a targeted GDP growth rate of over 8 per cent, and an estimated energy elasticity of 0.80, the energy requirements of the country are expected to grow at over 6.4 per cent annually over the medium to long term.

''This implies a four-fold increase in India's energy requirement over the next 25 years, which is a significant challenge for the country.'' MORE UNI PV SY DS1422