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India isn’t just one of the world’s biggest electricity consumers, it’s quietly become a regional power supplier too, sending surplus electricity across its borders to neighbouring countries. Here’s a look at who buys India’s power, how the trade actually works, and what it means for the country economically.
Which Countries Buy From India?
India currently maintains cross-border transmission links with Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which puts it in the position of a net electricity exporter within the South Asian region. Bangladesh in particular has come to rely on Indian supply to help meet its growing domestic demand, while Bhutan’s equation with India works a bit differently, largely thanks to the hydropower projects India helped fund and build there.
How The Trade Actually Works?
Electricity trade between India and its neighbours has traditionally run on a bilateral, government to government basis, with formal cross border trading rules eventually notified under the SAARC framework. Power doesn’t always move in a straight line between two countries either. In one interesting example, Nepal has been sending electricity all the way to Bangladesh by routing it through India’s own power grid, under a trilateral deal between the Nepal Electricity Authority, Bangladesh’s power board and India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam. That power specifically travels through India’s 400-kV Muzaffarpur-Baharampur-Bheramara transmission line. This effectively makes India more than just a buyer or seller in the region, it also acts as the connecting corridor for trade between its neighbours.
The Bhutan Exception
Unlike the rest of the region, India actually imports electricity from Bhutan rather than exporting to it. Bhutan’s hydropower capacity, built up over the decades with Indian financing, has turned it into a net electricity supplier to India, essentially flipping the usual direction of trade between India and one of its border partners.
What’s Changing On The Ground?
Nepal alone can currently export up to 690 MW of hydropower to India, and officials at the Nepal Electricity Authority say the country is capable of exporting as much as 1,500 MW right away if India signs off on it. The scale of this trade has grown quite sharply too. Nepal earned close to NPR 29.32 billion from its electricity exports to India and Bangladesh in the fiscal year ending mid-2026, a jump of nearly 68 percent compared to the previous year. That kind of growth shows just how central India’s grid and market access have become to power trade across the region, even in deals where India itself isn’t the one buying the electricity.
Khushi Patel is a Senior Sub Editor at NewsX, covering automotive, technology, Lifestyle, entertainment, and mainstream news. She previously worked as a Copy Editor at Times Network and has written automotive editorial content, including comparison pieces, for TimesDrive.
