Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL)

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. It is engaged mainly in the transmission of bulk power across different states of India. It is headquartered in Gurugram. Power Grid transmits about 50% of the total power generated in India on its transmission network.

The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited was incorporated on 23 October 1989 under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized share capital of Rs. 5,000 Crore (subsequently enhanced to Rs. 10,000 Crore in Financial Year (FY) 2007–08) as a public limited company, wholly owned by the Government of India with 51.34% stake in the company as on 31 December 2020 and as principal electric power transmission company for the country.

Its original name was the “National Power Transmission Corporation Limited”, which was charged with planning, executing, owning, operating and maintaining high-voltage transmission systems in the country. On 8 November 1990, the firm received its Certificate for Commencement of Business. Their name was subsequently changed to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, on 23 October 1992.

Power Grid management started functioning in August 1991 and subsequently took over transmission assets from National Thermal Power (NTPC), National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC)], North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), and other companies such as NPC, THDC, SJVNL in a phased manner ; it commenced commercial operation in January 1993. It also took over the operation of existing Regional Load Despatch Centers (RLDCs) from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), in a phased manner from 1994 to 1996, which have been upgraded and modernized with Unified Load Despatch and Communication (ULDC) schemes. The National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) was established in 2009 for overall coordination at the national level. Later the company had diversified into the telecom sector for efficient use of its spare telecommunication capacity of unified load dispatch center (ULDC) schemes and also leverage on its country-wide transmission infrastructure.

According to its mandate, the corporation, apart from providing a transmission system for evacuation of central sector power, is also responsible for the establishment and operation of regional and national power grids to facilitate the transfer of power within and across the Regions with reliability, security, and economy on sound commercial principles. Based on its performance, the firm was recognized as a Mini-Ratna Category-I Public Sector Undertaking in October 1998. It was conferred with the status of “Navratna” by the Government of India in May 2008 and “Maharatna” status in October 2019.