The financial viability of the power sector is a prerequisite for attracting the investment needed to ensure reliable energy supply, meet universal access targets, and hasten the clean energy transition.

An increasing number of developing countries – Mexico, China, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Brazil, and South Africa – are emerging as leaders in sustainable energy, with robust policies to support energy access, renewables and energy efficiency, according to this new World Bank Report.

Africa needs power - to grow its economies and enhance the welfare of its people. Power for all is still a long distance away - two thirds of the population remains without electricity and enterprises rank electricity as a top constraint to doing business. This sub-optimal situation coexists while vast energy resources remain untapped.

India has led the developing world in addressing rural energy problems. By late 2012, the national electricity grid had reached 92 percent of India's rural villages, about 880 million people.

Power distribution reforms must be a top priority for India to ensure electricity access to all by 2019, says this comprehensive review of the Indian power sector conducted by World Bank.