How India Uses Its Electricity Today
Electricity powers everything we do—our homes, factories, farms, offices, and transport. But how much electricity different parts of the economy use tells us a lot about a country’s development.
In India, the biggest user of electricity is industry (42%)—factories and manufacturing plants. Homes use about 26%, and farming uses a large share too, about 17%—mostly to run water pumps and machines. Shops, offices, and public services together use around 8%, while transport uses only 2%.
How the World Uses Electricity Differently
Compare this with the top 20 economies in the world. There, farms use only about 2% of electricity, while homes and businesses each use around 29%. This shows India still uses a lot more power for farming and less for commercial services.
Urbanisation and Shifting Energy Demand
India is changing fast. As more people move to cities and more services grow, electricity use in offices and shops will rise, while farming’s share will go down. This means India’s electricity pattern is starting to look more like the global average.
The Efficiency Gap in Industrial Energy Use
However, India’s industries still use much more energy to produce the same amount of goods compared to countries like the USA or Germany. For example, India uses about 2451 terajoules of energy for every billion dollars of output, while the USA uses only 637. This shows there is room to improve energy efficiency.
The Rise of Smarter, Cleaner Export Sectors
The good news is India’s fastest-growing export sectors are in electronics (32% growth), drugs and pharma (9%), and engineering goods (7%). These sectors tend to be more modern and efficient, helping India’s economy grow in a cleaner, smarter way.
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