Ministry
Ministry of Power
The Ministry of Power is the Government of India's apex department for the electricity system — generation, the inter-state transmission grid, and distribution reform. It administers the Electricity Act, 2003 and the Energy Conservation Act, and owns the state's largest power utilities. It is the institution that runs the wires and the market into which India's renewable build-out is integrated, even though solar and wind capacity itself is driven by a separate ministry.
Updated
- Headquarters
- Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi
- Constituted
- Standalone ministry, 2 July 1992
- Installed capacity (national)
- ~532.7 GW total (31 Mar 2026), ~53.2% non-fossil
- Key statutes
- Electricity Act 2003; Energy Conservation Act 2001 (amended 2022)
Role
The Ministry of Power runs the state’s electricity system. Its core remit is the physical and financial backbone: the inter-state transmission grid operated through the Grid Controller of India, thermal and large-hydro generation policy, and the perennial problem of distribution — the state-owned discoms that sell power to consumers and have historically lost money doing so. It administers the Electricity Act, 2003 and the Energy Conservation Act, works through statutory bodies including the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), and owns the country’s largest power utilities — NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, NHPC, and the lenders PFC and REC.
A crucial division of labour shapes everything the ministry does on the energy transition: solar and wind capacity is driven by the separate Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), while the Ministry of Power owns the grid the renewables plug into, the thermal fleet that balances them, large hydro, storage policy and the distribution utilities whose finances the ministry’s reform effort targets as the mix changes. It works alongside the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the carbon market and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on the wider energy economy. When India talks about integrating renewables “into the grid,” that grid is this ministry’s.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948
Created the Central Electricity Authority and the framework of state electricity boards that ran the sector for half a century.
- reference
NTPC and NHPC established
Central generation utilities were set up to build large thermal and hydro capacity beyond the reach of state boards.
- reference
Ministry of Power constituted as a standalone ministry
Split out from the earlier Ministry of Energy / Department of Power, whose lineage runs back to the Ministry of Irrigation and Power at independence.
- reference
Electricity Act, 2003
Consolidated the law on generation, transmission, distribution and trading; unbundled state boards and created independent regulators.
- reference
Panchamrit pledges at COP26
India committed to 500 GW of non-fossil installed capacity and 50% of installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030, and net zero by 2070.
- official
Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022
Gave the central government power to notify a Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, later co-overseen by the Power and Environment ministries with BEE as administrator; it came into force on 1 January 2023.
- official
National Electricity Plan (Transmission) launched
The CEA plan set out ~191,000 circuit km of new lines over 2022-32, raising inter-regional transfer capacity toward 168 GW by 2032 to evacuate 500 GW of renewables by 2030 and over 600 GW by 2032, alongside 47 GW of battery and 31 GW of pumped storage.
- official
50% non-fossil installed capacity reached — five years early
The government stated that on 30 June 2025 non-fossil sources reached 242.78 GW of a 484.82 GW total (50.1%), meeting the COP26 goal of half its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources five years ahead of the 2030 NDC target.
- official
Non-fossil share reaches ~53% of installed capacity
As of 31 March 2026 the government put non-fossil installed capacity at about 283.5 GW, or 53.2% of the ~532.7 GW total, and stated India ranked third globally in renewable-energy installed capacity; a record ~55 GW of non-fossil capacity was reported added in FY 2025-26.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Power?
- The Ministry of Power is the Government of India's apex department for the electricity system — generation, the inter-state transmission grid, and distribution reform. It administers the Electricity Act, 2003 and the Energy Conservation Act, and owns the state's largest power utilities. It is the institution that runs the wires and the market into which India's renewable build-out is integrated, even though solar and wind capacity itself is driven by a separate ministry.
- When was Ministry of Power established?
- Ministry of Power was established 1992.
- What does Ministry of Power do?
- Its remit covers The inter-state transmission grid and national grid operation, Thermal and large-hydro generation policy, Electricity distribution reform (discom finances, AT&C losses, smart metering), Administration of the Electricity Act, 2003 and Energy Conservation Act, Energy efficiency, demand-side management and the compliance carbon market (with MoEFCC).
- What is the latest on Ministry of Power?
- As of 2026-07-06: Non-fossil share reaches ~53% of installed capacity. As of 31 March 2026 the government put non-fossil installed capacity at about 283.5 GW, or 53.2% of the ~532.7 GW total, and stated India ranked third globally in renewable-energy installed capacity; a record ~55 GW of non-fossil capacity was reported added in FY 2025-26.