India would be lucky to add 62K MW capacity in 11th Plan: Panel

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council today said the country would be "lucky" to add even 62,000 MW of power generation capacity by the end of the current 11th Five-Year Plan period (2007-12), much less than the targeted 78,000 MW.Large capacities would be commissioned in 2010-11 and 2011-12, but the country is likely to fall short of the 78,740 MW target set by the government."In the power sector it appears we would be lucky to get 62,000 MW by March 2012," PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan said while releasing the Economic Outlook 2010-11.

In the current fiscal, the target for capacity commissioning is 21,441 MW, of which over 6,600 MW is in the private sector, about 6,900 MW in the state sector and 7,900 MW in the central sector. The report observed that the failure to create physical infrastructure in time has been a binding constraint on the expansion of manufacturing output, and this has been a significant contributor to lower competitiveness.

Fuel has increasingly become another limitation in the power sector and "we have to broadbase our fuel usage to encompass nuclear power, natural gas and renewable sources and reduce the proportion of coal," it said.