Independent regulatory agencies( IRAs) in a democratic system of government are designed to ensure and promote their independence and autonomous functioning. It is rooted in the concept of regulatory state. Developing countries like India stepped into this direction in the 1990s. In this article, an attempt has been made to analyse the working of IRAs with special reference to the electricity sector. The article demonstrates how the rollout of the agencies brought into light the difficulties of achieving functional independence and operational effectiveness. The discretionary authority is limited from within and without although the institutional space for regulatory policy is slowly but certainly becoming more open. The study seeks to identify some of the weaknesses of this new institutional arrangement that have become evident over the last few years.
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