The Indian government intends to slash LED bulb retail prices from the average retail price of INR 300 (US $4.52) to INR 44 (US$ 0.66) under its DELP scheme, reported Times of India.

"The government is looking to bring down the price of LED bulb to Rs 44 per unit under bulk purchases through competitive bidding," said the country’s power minister Piyush Goyal in a recent Assocham session.

Under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Program (DELP), the Indian government procures LED bulbs through competitive bidding and provides the bulbs to consumers at competitive rates.

Currently, LED bulbs are being retailed at about INR 275-300 per bulb on the market.

During a recent bidding, a price of INR 74 per unit was submitted, which was below the initial target of Rs 99, said the minister.

LED bulb prices have plunged more than 75% over the last six to eight months due to various Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) programs, a public sector entity under the Ministry of Power.

Consumers also can choose to pay for their LEDs through monthly instalments under the government scheme.

It is projected that the national program will stimulate the market and push retail prices below Rs 150.

Use of LEDs in households and public lighting could reduce energy consumption by 50% to 90%, according to official estimates.

If the 770 million incandescent bulbs sold in Indian households were switched to LEDs, the country could save 25 billion KWh (units) of energy per year.

At the moment, the government has distributed more than 13.5 million LED bulbs, and is aiming to distribute more than 700 million bulbs through bulk orders within the next three years.

Lighting sector amounts to about 20% of the total energy consumption in India, inefficient incandescent bulbs are still the most commonly used lighting products in the market.

LED lighting policies in India:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches LED household and streetlighting program, Prakash Path (way to light) on Jan. 5, 2015.
• The DELP initiative aims to replace domestic and incandescent and CFL bulbs with LEDs. The project is aiming to cut 105 billion KWh energy consumption, and reduce consumer energy bills by INR 400 billion.
• India’s Street Light National Program (SLNP) is targeting to replace 35 million streetlights, which could save 9,000 million KWh energy consumption, and reduce 1,500 MW of installed streetlight load.