If all goes according to plan, this will mark the second time the government collaborates with Nilekani to implement reforms in the power sector. The initiative aims to lower generation, transmission, and distribution costs for electricity by up to 25%, as cited by an official in the ET report.
In a March post on X, Nilekani hinted at forthcoming changes in the energy sector, stating, “Energy is the next UPI! Millions of small producers will participate in the Digital Energy Grid (DEG)”.
Energy is the next UPI! Millions of small producers will participate in the Digital Energy Grid (DEG).
Full video: pic.twitter.com/o2MbSquesQ— Nandan Nilekani (@NandanNilekani) March 28, 2025
During his remarks at the Arkam Annual Meet’s ‘The Great Unlock: India in 2035’ event, Nilekani, who played a key role in developing Aadhaar and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), noted that future energy production will include small producers taking advantage of rooftop energy storage.
“Every home will act as an energy producer due to rooftop solar installations. Each home will also serve as an energy store with an EV battery. So, every household will be a producer, seller, and buyer of energy. Similar to UPI, you will now have the ability to trade energy,” he remarked.
“The overall energy landscape will spawn a multitude of entrepreneurs,” he added.
At the inaugural edition of Beckn Node Zero 2024 held in Bengaluru, Nilekani expressed, “Climate challenges are time-sensitive, and we must act with rapid scale and pace. India has managed complexity swiftly with its digital infrastructure, allowing us to address global issues. We need to leverage existing digital frameworks to implement new solutions.”
“This is what we refer to as ‘Finternet’, which enables the tokenization of assets, and we believe it plays a significant role in transforming the financial system,” he stated.
Following PM Modi’s announcement of demonetization in 2016, Nilekani advocated for a fundamental transformation in how Indians live, consume, and transact. “This (demonetization) shock to the system will drive the digitization of the economy. However, we are experiencing some discomfort, and we must endure this for a while,” he explained.
“Thanks to the initiatives over the past seven years, many components are already in place, such as the Aadhaar card and the Aadhaar payment bridge. Instead of the usual three-year timeframe, I foresee digitization occurring within three to six months.”
