Mumbai, Jan 18 (IANS) Stating that the Indian power industry is at the cusp of major growth with 80,000 MW of power units under construction, union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Wednesday assured the India power equipment industry of adequate protection.

“As a nation, we have progressed immensely in terms of speed. For instance, through the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, the government is targeting rural electrification of 110,000 villages during the 12th five-year plan,” Shinde said while speaking at the inaugural function of ELECRAMA 2012 organised by Indian Electricals and Electronics Manufacturing Association (IEEMA).

“Earlier. India used to add 10,000 MW of power in a given five-year plan and last year, we added 12,000 MW in a single year. This is a fantastic achievement for a nation which is growing at 8-9 percent year-on-year,” he added.

Shinde said that the government is delighted to see exports of high-end transmission and distribution (T&D;) equipment from India.

“In stark contrast, just a few years ago, we used to import T&D; equipment. In other words, the Indian manufacturing has come of age and now for them the world is an oyster. This is what the government’s intention was in the first place,” he said.

IEEMA president Ramesh Chandak asserted that domestic equipment manufacturing industry has grown substantially to fully meet the domestic power generation demand.

“The T&D; players have the contemporary technology and have established themselves globally. However, the built-up equipment capacity stands under-utilised across several products, as there has been a surge in imports in recent time,” he said.

Chandak requested to government to create a level playing field for domestic electrical manufacturers.

Shinde also mooted the appointment of an “independent investigator” to identify the reasons in aggregate rechnical and commercial (A&TC;) losses in power distribution, which are estimated anywhere between Rs.50,000 to Rs.80,000 crore a year.

He added that AT&C; losses have been reined in from 39 percent to around 27 percent and the target is to further bring these down to 15 percent.

Shinde stressed that the government is keen to enhance super critical manufacturing capacity such as several new joint venture companies, including L&T-MHI;, Alstom-Bharat Forge, Toshiba - JSW, Thermax & Babcock-Wilcox, Ansaldo-GB Engineering, to be formed to manufacture supercritical boilers and turbines for power plants.