MoSPI Outlines Plan to Improve India's Energy Statistics

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released the report of the Expert Committee on Energy Statistics, outlining a comprehensive roadmap to modernise India's energy statistics system through harmonised methodologies, international standards and improved data coverage to support evidence-based policymaking and the country's clean energy transition.

The report comes as India advances towards its renewable energy targets and Net Zero ambitions, increasing the need for a robust, comprehensive and internationally comparable energy statistics framework. MoSPI's annual Energy Statistics India publication provides national-level energy flow data through statistical tables, graphs and sustainable energy indicators, and the committee was tasked with strengthening its methodology and database.

The Expert Committee, chaired by Dr. Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT Delhi, included senior representatives from key energy ministries and experts from research institutions such as TERI and the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). It reviewed the country's energy statistics database, including definitions, classifications, data sources, estimation methods and inconsistencies across ministries while assessing alignment with international statistical standards.

Following multiple rounds of consultations with ministries, agencies and domain experts, the committee recommended adopting internationally accepted standards for collecting and disseminating energy statistics. These include tabulation categories aligned with the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) Rev. 5, National Industrial Classification (NIC)-2025 and the Standard International Energy Product Classification (SIEC). It also called for uniform energy conversion factors across all energy ministries to improve consistency in official statistics.

To address gaps in coal consumption data, the committee proposed a methodology to refine sector-wise end-use estimates for imported coal, which accounts for around 20 percent of India's total coal consumption, as well as domestically auctioned coal currently grouped under miscellaneous categories. The methodology uses data from the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI). It also recommended that the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) develop and maintain a comprehensive database under the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme.

The committee further proposed using the ASI database to improve industry-wise electricity consumption estimates, enabling more detailed sectoral analysis of electricity use across industries.

One of the key recommendations addresses the lack of official national data on biofuel consumption. In the absence of such data, the United Nations Statistical Division currently estimates that biofuels account for around 31-34 percent of India's annual energy consumption. The committee recommended a comprehensive methodology to incorporate biofuel consumption into India's official Energy Balance.

The report also identifies electricity consumption from captive and off-grid generation, along with electricity used by electric vehicles, as major data gaps in India's energy statistics. It recommends an initial methodological framework for estimating these categories, with scope for further refinement by researchers and data users before their inclusion in the national Energy Balance.

According to MoSPI, the recommendations are intended to improve the methodological robustness, analytical usefulness and inter-agency consistency of India's energy statistics while enhancing data quality, comparability and monitoring of the country's evolving energy landscape.

The ministry said that successful implementation of the recommendations will require continued collaboration among energy ministries and stakeholders to build an integrated, reliable and internationally comparable energy statistics framework for India.