India’s Uttar Pradesh State power department will be rolling out a plan to supply LED bulbs to household consumers at nominal cost throughout Varansi and Sangam city in April and May respectively.

Philips, the global leader in lighting, has once again revolutionized the 60-watt LED equivalent bulb by introducing SlimStyle, a brand new shape that offers the high quality, omni-directional light of an incandescent, while eliminating the bulky heat sink commonly found on current LED offerings. The new value-priced 60-watt bulb is now available for purchase in store at The Home Depot, a partner in innovation, for just US$ 9.97.

Starting next year, the U.S. government phase out of incandescent bulbs goes into effect in hopes of encouraging consumers to switch to more energy efficient lighting. Although consumers recognize the benefit of LEDs, the high prices are still hard to swallow. That however is all about to change with companies such as Cree and Walmart launching LED bulbs at cost-friendly prices. With prices as low as US $ 10, LED manufacturers are feeling the heat in the increasingly fierce price competition.

According to LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce, in March, only several new LED lighting products were launched in the global market, and the price of existing products showed a steady decline. In the global market, 40W equiv. LED bulb retail price has dropped by 3.9% to 17.1USD, and 60W equiv. LED bulb average price has dropped by 6.5% to 24.1USD.