India loses 1% of GDP in Electricity Theft!

Here is a joint report on India from Wharton Business School and Boston Consulting Group on India.  It discusses how despite the growth – the infrastructure in India is in shambles!

The casual visitor to India might find it hard to believe that it houses one of the world’s hottest economies — one increasingly mentioned in the same breath as China’s. In India, shabby airports, potholed roads and clogged ports remain the norm, and major cities suffer regular brownouts, especially during the summer when demand for electricity surges. The government estimates that India will need to spend $150 billion over the next seven to eight years to bring its infrastructure up to par.

Is it because India is poor or lack of resources?  Quite to the contrary!!  India is poor BECAUSE of our bad infrastructural policies!  Last year India lost 1% of GDP on just electricity theft!!  If that doesn’t make you want to throw out all the SEBs and replace them with private enterprise what will???

Theft has played a major role, too: It’s not uncommon for consumers to simply hook their homes and businesses illegally to the transmission grid, or to bribe corrupt board employees to look the other way. Between 1992 and 2002, 40% of the power generated in India was stolen. Analysts estimate that SEB losses in the financial year ending March 31, 2004, the most recent figures available, came to $4.7 billion, or nearly 1% of GDP.

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