EESL, NIIF form joint venture to deploy smart meters across India

The new joint venture, named IntelliSmart Infrastructure will implement, finance and operate the smart meter roll-out program of power distribution companies

Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) have entered into a joint venture for the deployment of smart meters across India, the two companies said in a joint statement on Thursday. 

The new joint venture, named IntelliSmart Infrastructure will implement, finance and operate the smart meter roll-out programme of power distribution companies. 

“This venture will support the ambitions of ongoing government programmes, such as UDAY and National Smart Grid Mission,” said Saurabh Kumar, managing director, EESL. The Central government plans to install 250 million smart meters in the next few years. In its statement, EESL added, “EESL has been spearheading the smart meter deployment in India with the installation of over 625,000 smart meters. This partnership of NIIF and EESL will give a fillip to the smart meter ambition of the Government of India.” 

“IntelliSmart will support the efforts of the Indian power sector as it strives towards delivering dependable 24/7 service to end-consumers,” said Sujoy Bose, managing director and chief executive officer, NIIF. 

In its statement, the two companies said, IntelliSmart will seek to operate at scale by leveraging the expertise and capital of both the shareholders, EESL and NIIF. The joint venture company is expected to collaborate with all stakeholders to procure, deploy and provide operations and maintenance for the smart meter infrastructure. 

EESL, according to the statement, has already secured contracts for IntelliSmart to install and maintain over one crore smart meters across various state distribution companies; the joint venture will work along-side EESL to scale this up further.