IEEMA’s four point agenda for Power & Electrical equipment sector
To create a conducive climate for Make in India and for encouraging indigenous manufacturing and technology development, IEEMA recommends the following immediate steps:
1. Utility tenders for domestically funded projects: It is observed that some Government utilities procure equipment and services for domestically funded project against Internationally Competitive Bidding (ICB) route, even though sufficient capacity and technological competitiveness is available with the domestic industry. IEEMA recommends that ICB route route should not be allowed for procurement of goods and services for domestically funded projects. 15% price preference should be given to the domestic industry, as being done in case of ICB’s practiced for projects funded by multilateral funding agencies.
2. Mandatory vendor development program by utilities: Vendor development programs should be followed by all utilities in case of products where no local producer is meeting the past sales records in order to support Indian manufacturing.
3. Mandatory testing of all imported electrical equipment: For supply of electrical equipment, wherever test certificate is a prerequisite, it should be mandated that testing of equipment of foreign suppliers should be done only in Indian laboratories, like the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) and Electrical Research & Development Association (ERDA).
4. Standard contract terms and specifications for same product across all utilities:
State utilities have heterogeneous procurement policies and qualifying criteria for vendors for similar products. There is an urgent need for standardization of rating and specifications used in the distribution sector, as also in the bidding document.
