This report reviews the energy sector activities of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in India. The report demonstrates MDBs’ fixation with growth, market and centralised systems and how, as a result, vital issues of rural energy and the role of energy in poverty alleviation get sidelined. The lacunae both in the process and the content of the reform package that is championed by MDBs as a panacea to all ills besetting the Indian power sector are pointed out. The report highlights the need for adopting a democratic process towards arriving at an alternative solution and presents an outline of such a process