India is the world’s third-largest energy consumer, and its need for electricity is soaring higher. In order to meet the needs of a growing population, urbanization, economic growth, and electric vehicle adoption in road transport, India will have to boost its power generation capacity five-fold in just a few decades. And yet coal currently contributes to about 60% of India’s power basket.
This creates a sharp inflection point. As India pursues Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to net-zero by 2070 and the installation of 500 gigawatts of non-fossil capacity by 2030, much of the required infrastructure will be built over the next two to three decades.
As per the Energy Transitions Commission, India’s NDC is to reach 50% of installed power capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030. Attaining that implies not only scaling up renewables, but also phasing down coal, promoting green hydrogen, and making the 2020s the clean energy growth decade.
The speed with which this transition has taken place has created a second wave of opportunities — Energy Transition 2.0. The stage is no longer set for generation capacity such as wind farms and solar farms. Rather, the enabling infrastructure that makes big renewables economically feasible — transmission lines, smart meters, and grid hardware — are taking centre stage.
These industries are experiencing new investment cycles as India fortifies its power system to accommodate variable renewables, digitizes distribution with smart meters, and modernizes hardware with automation and high-voltage equipment.
With this background, we organize our analysis in three categories:
• Transmission operators, constructing the foundation of evacuating and transmitting renewable power.
• Smart meter companies, facilitating digital distribution and efficiency for DISCOMs.
• Equipment manufacturers, providing the vital transformers, relays, and automation required for an advanced grid
Within each class, the universe listed is reasonably finite. By choosing these six names, we are hoping to achieve representative balance across the three most important pillars of India’s energy transition.
Transmission operators
Transmission is led by Power Grid Corporation, the state utility known for its execution, and Adani Power, the largest private operator growing rapidly.
We have also excluded InvITs like IndiGrid or Powergrid InvIT. Though they offer consistent returns from the transmission assets, they are financial trusts and not operating companies. Because the selection here is concentrated on those companies that are actually performing and delivering in India’s smart grid value chain, InvITs are excluded.
#1 Power Grid Corporation of India
Power Grid Corporation of India is a Maharatna public sector undertaking (PSU) and India’s largest electric power transmission company. PGCIL was incorporated in 1989 to set up extra-high voltage alternating current and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines.
Power Grid Corporation is the national transmission utility and the country’s nerve grid. It is augmenting inter-regional corridors and upgrading substations to manage the increasing proportion of renewable energy. The company is also implementing smart grid infrastructure like digital substations, next-generation communication networks and SCADA systems to enhance efficiency and decrease losses.
To finance this expansion, the board has sanctioned borrowing as much as Rs 25,000 crore in FY26 and Rs 30,000 crore in FY27, with the facility of green bonds. These would finance new transmission lines, grid improvements and projects undertaken with joint ventures.
With a pan-India presence and large investment proposals, Power Grid is gearing up its network to handle future growth in demand and assimilate huge quantities of renewable power into the grid.
#2 Adani Energy Solutions
Adani Energy Solutions, part of the Adani group, is a multidimensional organization with presence in various facets of the energy domain, namely power transmission, distribution, smart metering, and cooling solutions. It is India’s largest private transmission company.
Adani Energy Solutions is positioning itself as a major contributor towards the establishment of the next-generation power grid. The firm commissioned three key transmission projects, two of them associated with renewable evacuation in Gujarat’s Khavda area, early and added the WRNES Talegaon project to its order book under construction reaching Rs 59,300 crore. It is also rolling out digital solutions through its smart metering business, deploying 24 lakh meters during Q1 and aiming for more than 1 crore installations by the end of the year.
To underpin this scale-up, AESL almost doubled its quarterly capex to Rs 2,224 crore and targets yearly capitalisation of Rs 15,000–16,000 crore, dominated by the Rs 7,000 crore Mumbai HVDC project. It looks to get about Rs 90,000 crore of new transmission bids next year, comprising two big HVDC projects — Khavda–Olpad (Rs 20,000 crore) and a Rajasthan project (Rs 25,000 crore) — which will meaningfully increase grid capacity.
In addition to transmission, AESL is expanding into energy solutions with 717 MW contracted under its commercial and industrial business and India’s largest district cooling facility under construction at Mundra. Collectively, these initiatives are reinforcing grid capacity, facilitating renewable integration, and positioning India’s power infrastructure for future demand.
Smart meter companies
In smart meters, only Genus Power and HPL Electric are seen as listed beneficiaries of the Rs 1.5 lakh crore RDSS implementation, while other top brass such as Secure Meters are not listed.
#1 Genus Power Infrastructures
Genus Power Infrastructures, incorporated in 1992 is a part of the Kailash Group. It is engaged in manufacturing and providing Metering and Metering Solutions and undertaking ‘Engineering, Construction, and Contracts’ on a turnkey basis (core business division).
Genus Power is India’s leading player in smart metering, a crucial component of transforming India’s power distribution system. Genus Power has an order book of Rs 29,321 crore as of Q1 FY26, providing it with multi-year revenue visibility. Approximately 80% of AMISP revenue under these contracts will flow through directly to Genus, further consolidating its position in the segment.
The firm has installed 45 lakh smart meters to date and will install an additional 80–90 lakh in FY26 and 1.1–1.2 crore in FY27, aiming for 25–30% market share in the current rollout. Around 21 lakh meters are in operation and delivering recurring revenues from operations and maintenance services.
Genus is also looking into water and gas meter opportunities as well as export businesses. These moves will make its portfolio more diversified and increase its profile beyond electricity metering to that of a more general utility infrastructure solutions company.
#2 HPL Electric & Power
HPL Electric & Power is a leading electrical equipment manufacturer in India operating for the past 40 years. The company has significant presence across five key product verticals of electric equipment – metering solutions, modular switches, switchgears, LED lighting and wires
and cables.
HPL Electric & Electric is emerging as a key participant in modernizing India’s electrical distribution system because of its solid position in low-voltage electrical solutions and smart metering. About 99% of the company’s order book, which was over Rs 3,500 crore as of March 31, 2025, was attributable to smart meter projects, giving multi-year income visibility.
The company now accounts for about 20% of the domestic meter market and has grown its installed capacity to 1.1 crore meters per year. It is also increasing automation and component production to address demand from government-initiated rollouts such as the RDSS and Smart Meter National Programme.
HPL is investing Rs 100 crore in capex to step up smart meter manufacturing, switchgear and wires & cables business. It has introduced India’s first in-meter RF gateway thanks to a partnership with Wirepas, which has improved technology leadership and decreased deployment costs. With a strong domestic distribution network and exports to 42 countries, HPL is well-positioned to benefit from the growing need for smart infrastructure and digital grids.
Equipment makers
Among equipment makers, CG Power has a domestic foundation in transformers and switchgear with export pull, while ABB India provides global technology leadership in grid automation and FACTS systems.
#1 CG Power & Industrial Solutions
CG Power & Industrial Solutions, a part of the Murugappa group, is a global enterprise providing end-to-end solutions to utilities, industries and consumers for the management and application of efficient and sustainable electrical energy. It offers products, services and solutions in two main business segments, viz. Power Systems and Industrial Systems.
CG Power is consolidating its leadership in power equipment and grid infrastructure as demand for transmission and distribution capacity increases. The company closed Q1 FY26 with order backlog of Rs 13,072 crore, up significantly from previous year, providing strong visibility for future execution. In its power systems business, it won a Rs 641 crore order from Power Grid for a 765 kV transformer package, the highest ever for this business division.
Expansion of capacity is top priority. Transformer capacity will double from 20,000 MVA to 40,000 MVA by September 2025, and a new plant is already under construction with a target of 45,000 MVA. Electric vehicle motors are also being developed by CG Power, beginning with three-wheelers, and homologation tests have commenced with OEMs.
Its semiconductor unit, CG Semi, is looking to start production in 2026 and a bigger plant by 2027. The company is eyeing total investments of around Rs 7,600 crore, funded in part by government incentives, as it expands its power infrastructure and electrification footprint.
#2 ABB India
ABB India is an integrated power equipment manufacturer supplying the complete range of engineering, products, solutions and services in areas of Automation and Power technology.
ABB India is solidifying its position in power infrastructure and industrial electrification as the nation speeds up its clean energy build-out. It closed 2024 with an order backlog of Rs 9,400 crore, which was 12% higher year-on-year, with around 65–70% likely to be implemented in 2025 and the rest in 2026. Approximately 35–40% of its business is indirectly related to public capital spending via EPC partners, making it line up with grid and infrastructure growth.
ABB has continued to grow its local manufacturing base, with new capacity for low-voltage motors and high-end systems for PV and hybrid solar-wind projects. It has provided parts for 6 GW of solar capacity and is still working on automation and control systems for data centers, railways, and process industries. The company is also working on electrification projects for the metro and bullet train, and emerging technologies like hydrogen and bioethanol.
With a solid cash balance of Rs 5,390 crore and continuous investments in localization, premiumization, and technology integration, ABB is positioned well to seize growth in India’s changing power and industrial segments.
Valuations
Let’s now turn to the valuations of these six companies using the widely tracked Enterprise Value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) metric. The picture that emerges is quite telling.
Power Transmission Companies Valuations
| Sr No | Company | EV/EBITDA | 10-year EV/EBITDA | ROCE | 1 Year Share Price Return |
| 1 | Power Grid Corportation of India | 9.7x | 8.6x | 12.8% | -16.2% |
| 2 | Adani Energy Solutions | 17.9x | 16.3x | 10.2% | -14.7% |
| 3 | Genus Power Infrastruture | 15.1x | 13.4x | 19.2% | -23.9% |
| 4 | HPL Electric & Power | 13.7x | 7.5x | 14.4% | -19.8% |
| 5 | CG Power & Industrial Solutions | 79.2x | 38.6x | 37.5% | -1.0% |
| 6 | ABB India | 41.2x | 40.5x | 38.6% | -36.0% |
Valuations in the space of power transmission, smart metering and equipment have decidedly rerated, with most of these companies now trading above or near their long-term EV/EBITDA averages. That speaks to tremendous confidence in India’s grid expansion story — but it also implies future growth expectations are already priced in.
Transmission utilities still have stable regulated returns and their valuations reflect multi-year visibility from green corridor schemes. Smart meter players, even with high return ratios, have had steep share price falls over the last twelve months, demonstrating that execution horizons and working capital cycles are still investor concerns.
Equipment makers command a substantial premium, supported by their strong returns and export potential. However, with the valuations well ahead of history levels and share performance uneven, the market might already be discounting a lot of their growth.
Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and price performance in combination imply investors are discriminating strongly: rewarding sustained return generation but penalizing delays and execution risk. As ever, the best opportunities usually occur where sound fundamentals intersect fair valuations.
Investment takeaway
India’s power sector is at the heart of one of the world’s most ambitious infrastructure build-outs. As the nation speeds up adding renewable capacity and bringing more of its economy onto the grid, grid hardening, digitalizing distribution, and equipment upgrades will be every bit as important as generation addition itself.
This transition is opening up new opportunities in transmission, smart metering, and power equipment — areas that will anchor how reliably and effectively clean energy gets into homes and industry.
But such a growth story is not without issues. Policy implementation, land acquisition, supply chain constraints, and financing requirements tend to slow projects and impact returns. Working capital issues with smart metering and the cyclicality of industrial demand in equipment manufacturing are crucial variables to keep an eye on. Conversely, high sector values indicate that there is less room for growth because the market has already absorbed a significant amount of the projected increase.
It suggests that while investors are excited about India’s grid transformation, they should be cautious. It will be crucial to integrate the assessment of business fundamentals, execution history, balance sheet health, and valuation ease in order to identify opportunities that really stand out in this case.
Disclaimer:
Note: We have relied on data from www.Screener.in throughout this article. Only in cases where the data was not available, have we used an alternate, but widely used and accepted source of information.
The purpose of this article is only to share interesting charts, data points and thought-provoking opinions. It is NOT a recommendation. If you wish to consider an investment, you are strongly advised to consult your advisor. This article is strictly for educative purposes only.
Ekta Sonecha Desai has a passion for writing and a deep interest in the equity markets. Combined with an analytical approach, she likes to deep deep into the world of companies, studying their performance, and uncovering insights that bring value to her readers.
Disclosure: The writer and his dependents do not hold the stocks discussed in this article.
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