Yet, this projection comes in the shadow of reports showing generation in excess of the target in the first year (2012-13) of the Plan. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) figures showed an addition of 20,622 MW against a target of 17,956 MW. Earlier, Coal India's report in January this year had said that the nation had achieved 99 per cent of the committed generation target of 9,862 MW.

On the transmission and distribution (T&D) side, the worst blackout in the history of the world provided a silver lining, as the power ministry and its state agencies scampered to get a national grid in place. Yet, the southern transmission grid is yet to be synchronised with the national grid, and faces the worst demand-supply gap in India, and, if CEA forecast will be true, will witness an electricity deficit of 26.1 per cent, or 11,669 MW, during 2013-14 Distribution remains the quintessentially Indian last-mile problem. The franchise model-invented precisely to sharpen management and enforcement of recovery-wore a faded look this year, battered from less-than-successful attempts at kicking off in three cities. Ailing discoms didn't seem to agree that they were ailing, given their socio-political commitments, but a firm government has finally mandated to public sector banks to ensure distribution is viable. Without that premise and with payment defaults, RBI's new allowance for UMPP loans to be treated as secure wouldn't make sense, since power projects cannot be considered viable.

Power 20:20 is a result of an internal conversation about the media's role in recognising the players who make the power industry work, and not merely the sector. PwC India readily agreed to partner us in researching and profiling the companies and the personalities on various parameters. Company information is not always easy to come by, and PwC's efforts at collecting and reporting the data is therefore commendable.

As PwC reports have been incorporated with the latest financial figures (year 2012-13) based upon the data available in the public domain. The research is limited to the information available in the public domain and to the sources of data available. For the "innovative companies" category, data for each parameter was collected based on the industry experts' view, knowledge portals, and other sources of public information, on innovation in management, operational processes, adoption of new technology, risk-taking, and adoption of new financing.

For the distribution companies with the most profitability, the reports on discoms as published by PFC in June 2012 has been considered, and the accounts of the companies for the year 2010-11 have been considered to determine their profitability, as the accounts for the 2011-12 are yet to submitted by few of the discoms, whereas the accounts for 2012-13 have not yet been prepared. We considered Profit after Tax (INR) as the measure for arriving at the results. Profit including subsidy have not been considered as profit post subsidy planned / received is not a reflector of performance. Further subsidy payments may not be aligned to financial year further distorting the numbers. Research on organisations and personalities, together with the content of their profiles, has been provided by PwC.

Finally, a disclaimer: Sometimes, studies and reports make for surprises, small and big. We are sure this one is no different. But the nature of research is that much of the report is a result of quantification, except, of course, where a more qualitative evaluation is needed (for example, in the "innovative" category). In that sense, no research is either complete or can hope for universal approval.

PARAMETERS FOR TOP 20 COMPANIES