Indian mission, Vedanta adopt UJALA in UK

The Indian High Commission in London and metals tycoon Anil Agarwal led Vedanta Group will be among the first to adopt India's UJALA scheme of replacing all their old lamps with energy-saving LED bulbs in the UK.

Minister of state for power, coal and renewable energy Piyush Goyal presented them with their first set of LED bulbs during the launch of the Energy Efficiency Services Limited's (EESL) expansion plans in the UK, which have been branded as 'UK Joins Affordable LEDs for All' (UJALA).

"India has been able to replace 560 million bulbs with LED in two years. There is no reason why we can't use the same distribution network in the UK and have a similar scale up," Goyal said at the launch in London on Saturday.

"UJALA offers a great business opportunity in the UK, which can also become a base to foray into other countries in Europe.

"We can start with the London-listed Vedanta Group and I don't see any reason why UJALA cannot become a way of life in London, which is such a global city," he said, setting a target for the EESL to replace 100 million incandescent bulbs with LEDs in the UK by March 2019.

The EESL, under the Indian power ministry, is a joint venture of four state-run entities - Power Grid, NTPC, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and the Power Finance Corporation Limited.

In the UK, it has been offered office space to operate from the Indian High Commission in London, which also becomes the first Indian mission in the world to adopt UJALA and replace all its bulbs to LED.