China and India Energy: Two Countries for the Same Tale?

Chinese equities, particularly offshore equities, suffered relentlessly in the headlines for their negative performance. India was the other way around: people likely remembered India’s heartbreaking pictures of its COVID surge, but not its top-performing equity market.

Figure 1: YTD Performance and Sector

For definitions of indexes in the chart, please visit the glossary.

But when it comes to energy—particularly coal-generated electricity—the two countries are remarkably similar.

About 70% of both China and India’s electricity are generated from coal. It’s the single largest energy source, for electricity and other uses, in both countries. As shown in the chart below China has a higher percentage of coal as energy source, which expands past electricity, than India.

Figure 2: China and India: % Energy Sources from Coal