India is presently the sixth-greatest electricity generating country and accounts for about 4% of the world's total annual electricity generation. India is also currently ranked sixth in annual electricity consumption, accounting for about 3.5% of the world's total annual electricity consumption.

India's need for power is growing at an extraordinary rate; annual electricity generation and consumption in India have increased by about 64% in the past decade, and its projected rate of increase (estimated at as much as 8-10% annually, through the year 2020) for electricity consumption is one of the highest in the world.

Power Shortage across the world and India
Worldwide, some 2 billion people are currently without electricity.

• Developing countries use 30% of global energy. Rapid population growth, combined with economic growth, will rapidly increase that percentage in the next 10 years.
• The World Bank estimates that investments of $1 trillion will be needed in this decade and upwards of $4 trillion during the next 30 years to meet developing countries' electricity needs alone.

India is facing a power shortage of 70,000 MW which is due to increased demand in power. Maharashtra faced a 25.2 per cent deficit while Uttar Pradesh has 15.9 per cent shortfall. Gujarat had 30.6 per cent shortfall and Bihar 24.9 per cent. Delhi had a peak demand deficit of 2.5 per cent.

Some facts about Electricity consumption
To measure the amount of amount of electricity an appliance uses, look at the label. Nearly every appliance has a label telling you how much electricity it uses.

Your device might actually list a huge voltage range, like 100-240V. That just means that it will work with any country's voltage. For your calculations, use the voltage for the country where you are using the device.

The amount of electricity listed on the label is the maximum amount that the appliance will ever use. For example, a 300-watt refrigerator will only run at 300 watts when the compressor is running (which is when it makes that humming sound, indicating that it is actually chilling the air inside). Most of the time the fridge just sits there, using only 5 watts for its electronics.

Knowing how much electricity a device uses at a given moment does not tell you how much it is using in a month, because it is probably not running 24 hours (and even if it is running 24/7 like a fridge, it' i probably not using the maximum amount of electricity, as we discussed earlier).

Some devices use a small amount of electricity even when they are not on. For example, VCR's and microwaves draw a small amount to power the time display. This amount is often 5 watts or less. Electricity consumption of a device varies from brand to brand, and condition to condition.