The India market’s demands for star labelled efficient products has doubled with falling prices and increased participation of private companies, as the country follows its commitment to lower carbon footprint ahead of climate change talks to take place in Paris later this month, reported the Economic Times.

Government LED lamp distribution programs has driven up LED luminaires productions to 30 million per month, compared to 1 million a year ago. The state-owned Energy Efficiency Services coordinated the energy efficient programs, and is launching a similar program for star-rated agricultural pumps and ceiling fans.

The company is also facilitating state governments in floating contracts for retrofitting LED streetlights and maintaining them, creating a market for Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).

The government revised and raised its investment in energy efficient electrical equipment from INR 740 billion (US $11.23 billion) six years ago to INR 1.5 trillion, following the success from its LED lamp distribution program, said Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESl. About INR 350 billion of this budget is allocated to energy efficient lighting and streetlighting, while INR 500 billion is invested in solar pumps.

EESL also intends to raise its investment target 140 times to INR 700 billion in the next five years from the fixed budget of INR 5 billion for the last two years. The company has invested about INR 50 billion from INR 900 million, and proposes to raise its loans from German development bank KfW, Asian Development Bank, and AfD (France Development Agency).

EESL is a joint venture of state-run NTPC, Power Finance, Rural Electrification, and Power Grid, and generates income from profits that accrue to the distribution companies that purchase less electricity from generation firms due to energy savings. EESL procures LED lamps in bulk through competitive bidding and distributes them to consumers through power distribution companies.

Major lighting players including Philips, Havells, Surya Roshni and Compact have raised LED production, Everready Industries and Syska LED that are in the business of making LED lamps will also be likely to grow its distribution program to reach a pan-India level. The report projected these expansion projects would drive 7W LED prices to INR 73 per unit against INR 310 a few months ago. EESL reserves 20% of LED tenders for small firms, many companies including MIC Electronics and EcoLight LED systems have raised their production capacities.

The Indian government aims to conserve 8.5 million Kwh of electricity consumption per day or 15,000 tonnes of CO₂ by replacing 770 million traditional bulbs and CFLs with LEDs nationwide, and 35 million streetlights in the next three years.