MUMBAI: Coal, power and renewable energy minister Piyush Goyal , on Monday, described the section of industry unhappy with the slow pace of change on the ground in Narendra Modi's first year in office as rent seeking and unable to adjust in the new transparent era ushered in by the BJP-led government. Defending itself from this section of industry as also the Opposition which has called it pro corporate, Goyal said it was only pro people.“Over the years a section of industry got used to rent seeking and they are quite disturbed at the element of transparency and honesty that has come into the system now”, Goyal, told TOI in an interview. He was responding to a question with regard to the impatience vented by industry on slow clearances.“These people used to get coal blocks allocated free of charge without any due (evaluation) process to friends and family and party supporters and used to think that they can corner freebies, benefits and natural resources,” said Goyal adding that this section is certainly very disturbed now. “We are happy to accept their unhappiness.”The minister of state, who holds an independent charge of three important portfolios of the energy sector was in Maharashtra to take his government’s achievements, during the first year, to the masses.Not everyone in industry is unhappy, he said. “There is section that was deprived because of lack of level playing field are happy now that things are happening smoothly without bribing because power brokers are out of the game. They are competing, bidding and bagging projects,” he said. Countering the Congress allegation that his government was pro-corporate, he said they (Congress) opened FDI in 10 sectors, which were all pro corporate while the Modi government, opened Railways to “serve the people” and defence to “make India self-reliant”.On the trend of continuous fall in corporate earnings, Goyal,, a former chartered accountant, said that this was due to the inaction on the policy front for the last several years in the previous government. “Obviously, if illegally allotted coal mines are cancelled by the Supreme Court and people have to buy those mines at higher prices through a transparent process, it will put pressure on their balance sheet.” Goyal cited the example of LED bulbs that were bought for Rs 310 by the earlier government in February 2014 to drive home his point. “The cost fell to Rs 204 in August 2014, Rs 149 in November 2014, Rs 104 in February 2015 and finally Rs 82 in March 2015, a 74% reduction in a year through a transparent bidding process.” Such savings, he said, has gone to the people of India while putting pressure on corporate margins.“The people of India are happy that corporates are getting used to competition. That’s how men will be differentiated from the boys,” he said.Elaborating his ministry’s achievements over the course of the year, he said that it has recorded several firsts (See chart) which has helped the country’s power sector.Goyal was also not willing to accept that foreign power developers have been slow in investing into India’s power sector. He said that based on the government’s campaigns abroad, the ministry has got firm commitments of investments to the tune of $10 billion from a leading Japanese bank and a similar amount from a Canadian pension fund. He expects investments worth $250 billion in the power sector in the next five years.