The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released the report of the Expert Committee on Energy Statistics, constituted under the chairmanship of Dr. Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT-Delhi. The committee, comprising representatives from energy ministries and research institutions including TERI and AEEE, conducted a comprehensive review of India's energy statistics database and publication 'Energy Statistics India'.
Key Recommendations
The committee recommended adopting international standards for energy statistics collection and dissemination, including alignment with International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) Rev. 5, National Industrial Classification (NIC)-2025, and Standards International Energy-product Classification (SIEC). A critical recommendation was the adoption of uniform conversion factors by all line energy ministries to ensure inter-ministerial consistency in energy statistics.
Methodological Improvements
The report addresses significant data gaps in India's energy statistics. For imported coal, which constitutes approximately 20% of total coal consumption in India, and domestic coal routed via auction, the committee recommended a methodology using Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) database to refine sectoral end-use consumption. Similarly, for electricity consumption, the committee recommended using ASI database to capture industry-wise end-use consumption.
Biofuels and Emerging Energy Consumption
A major focus was on addressing the biofuels data gap, where United Nations Statistical Division currently estimates India's biofuel consumption at 31-34% of total annual energy consumption based on their own estimation. The committee developed a comprehensive methodology to incorporate biofuel component into India's energy balance table. The report also addresses consumption of electricity via captive/off-grid mode and consumption by electric vehicles, providing initial methodological frameworks that require further refinement by users and researchers.
Implementation and Impact
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency was recommended to develop and maintain a comprehensive database under the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme. MoSPI emphasized that effective implementation of these recommendations will require continued collaboration among all concerned ministries and stakeholders to build an integrated, reliable, and internationally comparable energy statistics framework. These improvements are expected to support evidence-based policymaking, improve data quality and comparability, and facilitate better monitoring of India's evolving energy landscape as the country progresses toward its renewable energy targets and Net Zero aspirations.