Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar creator, Nandan Nilekani, believes that the energy sector in India will witness the next revolution, akin to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) which has transformed the financial landscape of the country. Mr Nilekani was addressing a crowd of entrepreneurs when he highlighted the widespread implementation of solar panels for homes to enable the public to become both producers and consumers of energy.
“We’re used to buying and storing energy in small amounts, when you are buying LPG cylinder, you’re buying packetised energy. But electricty we always thought of something coming from the grid. Or we buy a generator because we don’t get electricity or burn some oil,” said Mr Nilekani.
“Every home will be an energy producer because they have rooftop solar. Every home will be an energy store because they have an EV battery. So, every home is a producer of energy, seller of energy, and buyer of energy. So, like UPI, you will now be able to buy and sell energy,” he added.
Mr Nilekani said the decentralisation of energy production and consumption might give rise to millions of micro-energy entrepreneurs that will drive economic innovation and growth.
Energy is the next UPI! Millions of small producers will participate in the Digital Energy Grid (DEG).
Full video: https://t.co/NboKoiSIXh pic.twitter.com/o2MbSquesQ
— Nandan Nilekani (@NandanNilekani) March 28, 2025
UPI’s success story
UPI, launched less than a decade ago, remains the cornerstone of India’s digital payment ecosystem contributing to 80 per cent of the retail payments across the country. The ease of use, combined with a growing network of participating banks and fintech platforms, has made UPI the preferred mode of real-time payments for millions of users.
