Coal auctions to ensure cheaper power: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 17 said the ongoing auction of coalmines would help in ensuring cheaper electricity to the common man in a sustained manner as against the practice of states subsidising power.

The Minister, who will present budget in the Lok Sabha on February 28, said that the India is better placed to provide investment opportunity to the global and domestic investors. "The starting point of all this has to be the credibility of the Indian economy, the faith of people in the Indian economy and our ability to provide opportunities to investors.

"From that point of view, our own systems have to tune a lot and for each one of these, power is essential," he said while addressing renewable energy conference 'Re-Invest 2015'. Referring specifically to the ongoing auction of coalmines, Jaitley said the reverse auction process will ensure cheaper electricity to common man as against the practice of certain states giving power subsidy.

"In reverse bidding, the cost of power is going to be linked with the rate at which you get the fuel," Jaitley said. He said a state subsidy is not sustainable. "One way by which people want to provide cheaper electricity is by the state subsidising it. A state subsidy really means that you will have to tax people more in order to provide something free to some other people. Is that a sustainable cause," he said.

Taking the first step towards slashing power tariff by 50 per cent, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government yesterday directed finance and power departments to immediately send their proposals for its implementation. Slashing power tariff by half was among the key pre-poll promises made by AAP in the Assembly elections which they won with a landslide majority. Aggressive bidding is going on for the first tranche of the coal mines auction which is expected to be completed by February 22.

Talking about clean energy, Jaitley said it would be sheer incompetence if the country failed to harness the solar and wind resources. "The world today is increasingly moving towards cleaner energy...it's (renewable energy) a great resource provided by nature both for solar and for wind. India has a very large landmass and therefore the raw material required for it is right in front of us. It would be sheer incompetence if we are not able to convert these into resource," he said.

The present government is focusing more on solar and wind energy and the Finance Minister is likely to announce some tax incentives for the sector in his forthcoming Budget. At a time when many advance economies are facing challenging times, the Finance Minister said international investors are reposing faith in India. "Our friends in the BRICS are facing a challenge.

China has now changed its strategy...its also shifting its emphasis more on consumption, more on the services sector and therefore there is a great opportunity for India to grow in terms of our manufacturing. "Not only grow in terms of our manufacturing we also have to concentrate on our infrastructure. And therefore we have to look at our resources both within the country and outside the country, which are going to help in this whole process," he said.

Jaitley further said in today's environment such occasions come very rarely in history where "you can become a natural recipient of both domestic and international investors". The Finance Minister said the three days 'Re-Invest2015' is a take-off conference and "once we succeed in renewable energy, we succeed in job creation, filling power generation gap and economic growth".