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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026

 

MUMBAI – State-run power utility firm Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd. sees ample growth opportunities in India that it can capitalise on before going big on its overseas plans, the company's Chairman and Managing Director Vamsi Rama Mohan Burra said at the 13th SBI Banking & Economics Conclave on Wednesday. "There is nothing that actually stops us from being global. But we have enough growth (opportunities) in the country itself which we need to first work on, then we can go beyond borders," Burra said. 

 

Power Grid does have robust presence in the overseas markets, but it's mostly as a power sector consultant and engineering, procurement, and construction provider. It provides cross-border transmission and consultancy in neighbouring countries such as Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. In what was Africa's first independent power transmission public-private partnership, the company became a long-term co-owner and operator of a critical part of Kenya's national electricity corridor.

 

The executive said Power Grid currently has all the characteristics of a global champion, in terms of ability to move power and get capital. "If scale is what determines a global champion, then yes, the scale is there," he said.

 

Power Grid has a transmission system availability of over 99%, as of August. "We have global benchmarks, Power Grid ranks in the highest quadrant," Burra said. Burra officially took over as the chairman and managing director of Power Grid on Apr. 1.

 

POLICY CERTAINTY

India's National Electricity Plan under the Central Electricity Authority has provided the power sector with predictability and certainty about the future plans for the industry, Burra said. "All boxes are ticked, we need to implement them on the ground," he said.

 

He pointed out that fully resolving the right-of-way issue remains a challenge. "The government has issued right of way guidelines...they need to be evolved so that they are much more acceptable to landowners," Burra said. Right of way refers to the legal right and physical corridor of land needed by a power utility to build and maintain power lines.

 

"The concept of not-in-my-backyard exists with landowners and with developers of solar. They want evacuation system, but they are not willing to part with the land for the transmission system. To that extent the challenge is there," he said. The executive is hopeful that the policies formulated by the Centre can help tide over this issue which has plagued the power transmission segment for years.

 

Wednesday, shares of Power Grid ended 1.60% higher at INR 270.20 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Anand JC

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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