Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has targeted capital expenditure of over Rs.1 trillion during the next three years.
Addressing an investor conference recently, R.K. Tyagi, CMD, PGCIL, said that the company has planned capital expenditure of around Rs.1,08,000 crore (over Rs.1 trillion) during the period FY26 to FY28. (April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2028).
During the ongoing fiscal year FY26, PGCIL’s estimated capex would be Rs.28,000 crore. This is as per current estimates and it likely to increase depending on the flow of new project wins during the coming months.
Even if one assumes capex of Rs.28,000 crore in FY26, this would be 6.6 per cent higher than the actual capex of Rs.26,255 crore incurred in FY25. (See related story). For FY27, PGCIL has projected capex of Rs.35,000 crore that is seen to grow further to Rs.45,000 crore in FY28, making a total of Rs.1,08,000 crore for the FY26-FY28 period.
Capitalization
PGCIL could not meet its capitalization guidance of FY25 with the actual figure barely reaching Rs.9,014 crore as against the projected figure of around Rs.18,000 crore. The shortfall in capitalization (commissioning of projects) was due to non-commissioning of key projects in Q4FY25. This, in turn, was due to delays in land acquisition, RoW-related challenges, shortage of skilled manpower and delays in sourcing key equipment.
These projects are now expected to commission in Q1FY26. With these projects, and others expected to commission in FY26 in normal course, PGCIL expects capitalization to be in the range of Rs.23,000 crore to Rs.25,000 crore in FY26, R.K. Tyagi said.
Work-in-hand
As of May 15, 2025, PGCIL had work-in-hand worth Rs.1,54,680 crore, out of which around 68 per cent (or Rs.1,05,094 crore) came from TBCB projects. The next biggest chunk was from RTM projects (both ongoing and new) with a share of 30 per cent. (See table)
PGCIL has also estimated its business potential between now and 2032 to be in the region of Rs.3,06,600 crore. While the majority would come from its core power transmission business, the Central PSU has estimated business worth Rs.7,500 crore from non-core areas like solar generation, smart metering and data centres.
As far as the power transmission TBCB bidding pipeline goes, PGCIL has estimated it to be around Rs.45,000 crore with Rs.35,000 crore already under bidding and the remaining Rs.10,000 crore yet to enter bidding stage.
Speaking of PGCIL’s involvement in intrastate grids, R.K. Tyagi asserted that PGCIL would be participating in TBCB projects at the intrastate level as well. The National Electricity Plan has estimated that investment in intrastate grids would be in the region of Rs.3 trillion by 2032. If this investment were to materialize, states would need to adopt the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) framework, Tyagi observed. He also explained that states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Odisha and Maharashtra were among the states that have adopted the TBCB modality for development of their intrastate grids. PGCIL would be participating in the intrastate TBCB space with the same interest as it is doing on the interstate transmission system (ISTS) side. R.K. Tyagi assured.
Featured photograph (source: PGCIL) shows PGCIL’s first all-terrain substation inspection robot that was pressed into operation in FY25
