NITI Aayog, government of India’s policy think tank,  released the first State Energy and Climate Index (SECI) report on Monday. Gujarat has emerged as the top performer followed by Kerala and Punjab among the larger states. Goa has emerged as the top-performing state in the ‘Smaller States’ category, followed by Tripura and Manipur. Among the Union Territories (UTs), Chandigarh, Delhi, and Daman & Diu / Dadar & Nagar Haveli are performing well.

The scores and ranks are presented as per larger states, smaller states, and UTs. 

The index ranks states and UTs on six parameters – the performance of distribution companies; access, affordability and reliability of energy; clean energy initiatives; energy efficiency; environmental sustainability and new initiatives.

The report mentioned that through SECI it is hoped that an in-depth analysis of individual states will help in enhancing the service delivery on various parameters of energy. 

These parameters have been devised keeping in mind India’s goals for climate change and clean energy transition.

In the larger states category, Haryana was the best performer on clean energy initiative while Tamil Nadu emerged as a top performer in the energy efficiency category. Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ended up as the bottom three performers on the index.

According to a news report in the Economic Times, Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant, said,  “Achieving the ambitious climate targets would require a conducive policy environment to encourage investment. The first State Energy & Climate Index will help initiate a dialogue with the states on the energy sector so that much required policy improvements can be made.”

India’s overall score at the national level, on a scale of 100, stands at 40.6, with the average score at the national level for discoms’ performance is 56.8 while it is 11.1 for new initiatives, which is the lowest among all parameters. 

The SECI is based on 2019-20 data, covering 27 key performance indicators.

The energy sector contributes to about 75% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the country. India, the third-largest energy consumer and the third-largest oil importer is working aggressively to provide affordable energy, ensuring energy access to all and ensuring high efficiencies in the operations.