600 million LED bulbs to be sold at Rs 10 apiece in rural areas: Report

In place of incandescent and compact fluorescent lamps, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs will be light the rural areas soon as it will be sold at Rs 10 per piece, an executive of India’s Energy Efficiency Services Limited (ESSL) told Mint.

Under the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) scheme, which is led by ESSL, 600 million LED bulbs will be made available to the rural user at Rs 10, without any government support or subsidy.

The reason for such a low price is that, after ESSL registers the UJALA scheme under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism, the firm will be able to claim carbon credit for using energy-efficient bulbs which will contribute Rs 60 of the total price. The total price is Rs 70. The balance will be paid by the rural consumer.

“We realised that a rural consumer isn’t able to pay Rs 70 per LED bulb. Under the proposed scheme, we will be taking back the consumer’s incandescent and CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs and provide this LED bulb for Rs 10 apiece. The balance cost and our margin will be recouped through the carbon credits earned,” Executive Vice Chairperson of ESSL, Saurabh Kumar told the publication.

This scheme will primarily focus on rural areas now as only one-fifth of the 360 million LED was previously distributed in there. The scheme also has a mandatory domestic manufacturing clause that will improve energy access in rural areas.

The new bulbs will enhance the Make in India campaign and help India’s climate change strategy to reduce its carbon footprint as per the Paris agreement of 2015.

The ESSL is especially interested in the investment as the cost of reducing one tonne of greenhouse gases in India is much lower at around $10 to $40 as compared to a developed country where it costs around $100 to $200.