By Binu Alex

It can make your life better. It can leave you in the darkness also. It has a sort of omnipotent's role in the world. In fact, energy is the God in the modern world. If energy is the source of movement, it is also the source of carbon emissions that will bring life to a halt in the future.

Though New Delhi has called for a regime which will enable the transfer of technology from rich countries to the poor to help reduce heat trapping pollution and limit the effects of climate change, there is hardly any assistance coming from the developed countries. So, India has to deal with hunger for energy and deal with carbon emissions, which are opposite to each other.

How do you come out of this vicious circle? There is no easy way out. India is a energy deficient country. But the government still claims it will give power to each and every household by 2012. Nuclear power may have been on its agenda when the government declared this, but given the present scenario, the Centre may have to delay it. But, energy is always in the news.

There are more companies coming up in India with energy prefix and suffix. Non conventional energy is another field where you find companies putting money. India needs power to move ahead. Energy is the backbone of a nation like India which wants to enter the next level from a developing to a developed nation.

One example India can follow is Germany in terms of harnessing non conventional energy. India's landscape is blessed with a geography that fits into the needs of non conventional energy set ups. More so because India's energy needs are growing at a phenomenal pace. Where will energy come from and at what price? The answer has to be auctioning.

That is where MCX and a group of power companies made a smart move to set up India's first energy trading bourse Indian Energy Exchange. Our cover story, handled by various bureaux across the country, was a learning process for everyone involved in it. This also made us believe that the sector cannot be covered by a single issue. But, we did our best within the limits.

This story appeared in COMMODITY MARKET, India s No. 1 news magazine on commodities

India Energy