for a country that suffers from chronic power failures and electricity deficiency, India has been the slowest off the block to implement any kind of energy efficiency regulations. Electrical appliances and products continue to be sold without any labelling or rating process to measure their energy efficiency. The result: the consumers pay hefty electricity bills and the states hinge on the brink of a grid collapse every other day.

The potential of savings from getting electricity efficient goods in the markets remains unexplored but all experts aver that the savings can be tremendous. Imagine the colossal savings if all the houses in Delhi or Mumbai alone were to use a 20 per cent more efficient refrigerators or air conditioners?

So what is holding India back when other countries, not only the developed ones but also developing ones in South and Southeast Asia, have got their act together? While industry experts like to keep mum on record, one senior executive in a white good multinational remarks snidely, “I can only say it’s Indian democracy at work. It took us nearly four to five years just to put together the Energy Conser