India’s power ministry has submitted the draft of its new National Electricity Policy 2026 for inter-ministerial review, signalling a major overhaul aimed at boosting renewable energy, modernising the grid, and meeting ambitious climate targets by 2047.
India’s power ministry has moved the draft of the National Electricity Policy 2026 for inter-ministerial discussion, a step that could bring the long-awaited rewrite of the country’s electricity framework closer to final approval. Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said on Thursday that the department had already compiled stakeholder feedback and submitted the Cabinet note, suggesting the consultation process should not take long.
The draft is intended to replace the National Electricity Policy notified in 2005, which was written for a very different power landscape. At that time, the central concerns were widening access to electricity, chronic shortages and weak infrastructure. Since then, India has expanded generation capacity sharply, built a unified national grid and achieved universal electrification, while average electricity use has risen to 1,460 kilowatt hours per person in 2024-25, according to government and industry summaries of the draft.
Agarwal said the new policy reflects the government’s Viksit Bharat vision for 2047 and is designed around the challenges now facing the system rather than those of two decades ago. Those challenges include managing a much larger share of non-fossil power, stabilising a more complex grid and expanding transmission networks to handle greater variability in supply. Reuters-style reporting on the draft’s public consultation notes that the policy also sets out ambitions for per capita electricity consumption to reach 2,000 kilowatt hours by 2030 and more than 4,000 kilowatt hours by 2047.
The draft also links electricity-sector reform with broader climate and industrial goals. According to the materials released by the ministry and reported by business outlets, it aligns with India’s emissions-intensity target for 2030 and net-zero goal for 2070, while calling for heavier use of renewable energy, storage and nuclear power over the long term. Agarwal added that efforts are under way to develop chips for smart meters domestically, and said coal logistics have improved, with daily deliveries now running at more than 440 rakes as September demand rose about 14%.
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