Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has set an initial guidance for capital expenditure (capex) for the ongoing fiscal year, FY27, at Rs.37,000 crore.
Addressing an investor conference recently, Burra Vamsi Rama Mohan, Chairman & Managing Director, PGCIL, clarified that this FY27 capex guidance of Rs.37,000 crore was the initial estimate and would be revised as the year progressed. Similarly, the capitalization guidance for FY27 has been pegged at Rs.30,000 crore.
Capitalization refers to that part of the overall capital expenditure (capex) that translates into commercially operational assets. As capitalization can be considered only when all the elements of a project are commissioned, it refers to the capital expenditure incurred on a project now fully commercially operational.
Landmark year
Fiscal year FY26 that closed on March 31, 2026 was very significant for PGCIL, with respect to the Central PSU’s achievement on the capex and capitalization front.
In FY26, PGCIL undertook capex of Rs.39,967 crore that far exceeded the revised guidance of Rs.35,000 crore. It may be mentioned that at the beginning of FY26, the capex guidance was set at Rs.28,000 crore that was later revised to Rs.32,000 crore and further to Rs.35,000 crore.
PGCIL’s FY26 capex is historically the highest in any fiscal year so far, according to estimates made by tndindia.com (See table)
In terms of capitalization, PGCIL’s achievement in FY26 was Rs.28,206 crore with over 50 per cent (or Rs.15,291 crore) materializing in Q4 (January to March) itself. The FY26 capitalization was over thrice the level of FY25 (Rs.9,014 crore), and by far the highest in recent history.
Capitalization too exceeded the final FY26 guidance of Rs.25,000 crore. The Central PSU had initially indicated FY26 capitalization guidance of Rs.20,000 crore that was revised — first to Rs.22,000 crore and later to Rs.25,000 crore.
Capitalization, in this case, is at the “consolidated” level, implying that it includes projects of PGCIL and those of the company’s subsidiaries.
Assets commissioned
During FY26, PGCIL added 4,765 ckm of transmission lines to its network, as against 4,054 ckm in FY25. In terms of transformation capacity, FY26 saw the Central PSU’s network grow by 72,055 MVA as against 32,819 MVA in FY25.
As observed by the PGCIL CMD, the pace of infrastructure addition in FY26 was very hectic, translating to 500 MVA of new transformation capacity every two and a half days, and around 13 ckm of new transmission lines every day.
In FY26, PGCIL commissioned nine new substations, including the 765/400kV Dausa substation that was put into operation within a record eight months from the first pour of concrete. In FY25, the number of substations commissioned by PGCIL stood at four.
Burra Vamsi Rama Mohan also observed that new transmission lines commissioned in FY26 included some very important 765kV lines originating from Rajasthan and Gujarat, which will be instrumental in bringing green energy to the Mumbai metropolitan region.
Innovation
During FY26, PGCIL implemented India’s first 400kV line using insulated cross-arms on monopole. This technology, deployed on the 400kV Maharanibagh-Narela line in north India, reduced right-of-way requirements by around 20 per cent. (See featured photograph) Such deployment has also been planned on the upcoming 400kV Jhatikara-Dwarka line in the NCR region of Delhi.
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