I am afraid this picture is far from accurate.
Power plants on the whole are running at a very low PLF for some time. Very cheap power is available in the short term markets[1].
The transmission system has also improved in the last two years and now prices are more or less uniform across the country[1].
Last mile distribution infrastructure is still a WIP in many places but the real problem is financial. Many distribution companies are owned by state govts. and unable to charge/recover for the electricity they distribute. This incentivizes them to procure/supply as little power as possible.
Many states have now opted for a financial restructuring [2] and I expect demand will pick up sharply.
Complaining about pace is moving the goal posts here, and yes power shortages are a lot scarcer.
I sell gensets in the southern states and the market is shrinking.
Additionally what's being missed in this entire chain is that the new CPCB norms were released a few years ago and all gensets sold in india now conform to it one way or the other.
To still add to this - most gensets don't run as much as they are able to. For a majority of sets they run very little in the span of years.
The OP gave an example where power was not given to a mall due to corruption, not lack of power.
I can distinctly remember the air quality in Delhi improving drastically when the public transportation moved to CNG and the metro started operating in the early 00s. Over time though, the policy of building more roads rather than focussing on public transport has led to both congestion and pollution problems worsening.
I am optimistic that once the peripheral highways are completed and metro phase 3 is operational, air quality will improve.
It has an excellent account of how manufacturing (supported by heavy protectionism from the state) was a crucial component of the Asian miracle in nearly all countries. IMO India really needs to go through a round of manufacturing expansion, preferably in the high-tech sectors.
On the contrary, my guess would be that this decision was taken at the highest political levels, and I applaud this decision. I read that the govt. set up a small committee of bureaucrats which recommended a waiver and I was hoping for this outcome.
This would hopefully incentivise Apple to move at-least some of their assembly to Foxconn India. We need all the jobs and economic activity we can get.
"While import substitution policies might create jobs in the short run, as domestic producers replace foreign producers, economics theory shows that in the long run output and growth will be lower than it would otherwise have been. This is because import substitution denies the country the benefits to be gained from specialisation and foreign imports. The law of comparative advantage shows how countries will gain from trade. Moreover, protectionism leads to dynamic inefficiency: Domestic producers have no incentive from foreign competitors to reduce costs or improve products. Import substitution can impede growth through poor allocation of resources, and its effect on exchange rates harms exports."
Last mile distribution infrastructure is still a WIP in many places but the real problem is financial. Many distribution companies are owned by state govts. and unable to charge/recover for the electricity they distribute. This incentivizes them to procure/supply as little power as possible. Many states have now opted for a financial restructuring [2] and I expect demand will pick up sharply.
[1] http://www.vidyutpravah.in/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujwal_DISCOM_Assurance_Yojana