Delivering the keynote address after inaugurating the "India Electricity-2007" at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, today, Shinde said lack of adequate domestic manufacturing capacity for generation equipment has been a major bottleneck in the way of timely completion of generation projects.

Creating more players in this field is the only way to increase capacities, bring in cost-competitiveness and accountability to timelines.

India Electricity-2007is a three-day seminar jointly organized by the Ministry of Power and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for showcasing the immense investment opportunities that the Indian power sector offers today.

The minister expressed confidence that the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) under which 42,000 villages have already been electrified, and more than 12 lakh BPL connections already provided will change the very face of rural India within a short time. The rural electrification backbone that is being created will not only cater to domestic demand for electricity, but can also be augmented by States to cater to requirements of agriculture, small industry and other applications of electricity.

Shinde said that the capacity addition of 78,000 MW in the next five years was not too ambitious a target as various projects of a total capacity of 50,000 MW are already under implementation and the balance orders are expected to be placed by the end of this year. He said there is a plan to establish a state of the art IT enabled energy accounting system all over the country to reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses of around 35 per cent to a much more respectable level of 15 per cent.

As suggested by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh during the chief ministers'' conference in May this year, a standing group of ministers with due representation from states, to address all the major issues confronting the power sector has now been appointed and it will be having its first meeting later this month.