Reforming and financing power sector of India

India, the second largest country in terms of population, has been maintaining a growth rate of 5 to 7 per cent over the last decade. This growth rate is to go up further in order to raise the standard of life of its people. In order to do so, there is going to be a pressure on various inputs, amongst which the electric power is very important. The current power supply system is plagued with several problems such as high transmission and distribution losses, low plant load factor, inadequate financial resources of the power producing companies and their low productivity etc. This paper examines these issues and enumerates the significant reforms that are needed or are already underway. Needless to mention that adequate availability of power is a condition precedent to better economic development and therefore operational and financial reforms for power sector are the need of the day.