REC Limited and Power Finance Corporation used the Bharat Electricity Summit 2026 to spotlight one of the most urgent priorities in India’s energy transition: building a stronger domestic manufacturing ecosystem for power distribution. At a high-level Vendor Development Session titled “Advancing Make in India for Power Distribution,” the two public sector financial institutions brought together policymakers, utilities, manufacturers, suppliers, and industry bodies to discuss how India can reduce import dependence, scale indigenous technologies, and improve the resilience of the distribution network. Held in New Delhi on the third day of the summit, the session reflected a growing recognition that the success of India’s power reforms will depend not only on generation capacity or financing, but also on whether the country can create reliable, standards-driven, homegrown solutions for the distribution segment.
Domestic manufacturing takes centre stage in power distribution reform
The significance of this session lies in the fact that power distribution remains one of the most challenging and consequential parts of India’s electricity sector. While generation and transmission often receive greater public attention, distribution is where financial inefficiencies, technical losses, system unreliability, and service delivery problems become most visible. Any serious conversation on modernising India’s electricity architecture must therefore include a focused strategy for strengthening the supply chain, equipment ecosystem, and technological backbone of distribution companies. By centring the discussion on Make in India, REC and PFC helped frame domestic capability as a national infrastructure priority rather than merely an industrial policy slogan.
The participation of more than 150 senior representatives from the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Central Electricity Authority, distribution utilities, the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association, OEMs, vendors, suppliers, and industry associations gave the session institutional weight. It suggested that the issue is no longer confined to manufacturers seeking market support, but has become a matter of coordinated sectoral planning. With KPMG acting as knowledge partner, the session also appeared designed to bridge policy, finance, implementation, and technical expertise in one forum.
The chairing of the session by Shashank Misra, Joint Secretary (Distribution), Ministry of Power, and the opening remarks by T. S. C. Bosh, Director (Projects), REC Limited, established the seriousness of the agenda. The session was not merely commemorative or promotional. It was positioned as a working dialogue on how domestic industrial capabilities can better serve the evolving needs of India’s power distribution system. That matters because distribution reform in India is often discussed in terms of losses, subsidies, and governance, while the hardware, systems integration, and sourcing side receive less sustained attention. This event helped correct that imbalance.
The industry interventions and utility insights added practical value to the discussion. Inputs from IEEMA and leading DISCOMs on areas such as SCADA indigenization and the use of AI and machine learning in power distribution pointed to the changing technological profile of the sector. Modern distribution is no longer just about wires, transformers, and meters. It increasingly depends on software-enabled control systems, intelligent monitoring, network visibility, outage management, and predictive maintenance. If India wants to localise this ecosystem, it must go beyond manufacturing physical equipment and invest in integrated capability across electronics, digital platforms, testing systems, and grid intelligence.
That is where the Make in India agenda becomes strategically important. The goal is not simply to replace imported components with domestic alternatives for symbolic reasons. It is to build a robust industrial base that can supply utilities with reliable, interoperable, cost-effective, and scalable solutions suited to Indian conditions. In a country of India’s size, domestic manufacturing in power distribution is closely tied to energy security, project timeliness, maintenance efficiency, and long-term affordability. A supply chain that is too dependent on imports remains vulnerable to global disruptions, price volatility, and delays that can undermine infrastructure targets.
Technology integration, standards and supply chain resilience shape the next phase
The panel discussion involving Pranav Tayal, Director in the Ministry of Power, Saurav Kumar Shah, Executive Director at PFC, and Prabhat Kumar Singh, Executive Director at REC, appears to have focused on this next phase of readiness. Their discussion highlighted India’s preparedness to deepen domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains, but it also acknowledged that the challenge is not only about capacity creation. It is equally about identifying what already works in the field and replicating those practices across utilities and states.
The emphasis on scaling proven DISCOM practices such as compact substations, planned underground cabling supported by GIS-based fault management, SCADA-DMS-OMS integration, and RT-DAS reflects a practical reform approach. These are not abstract concepts. They are operational tools that can improve reliability, reduce downtime, strengthen fault response, and improve network visibility. What the session appears to have suggested is that India should not treat these as isolated success stories, but as models for broader system adoption backed by domestic vendors and manufacturers.
This is a critical point because distribution reform in India often suffers from fragmentation. One utility may adopt a best practice, while another remains stuck with outdated systems, weak procurement standards, or incompatible technologies. Without stronger domestic ecosystems and sector-wide standards, successful pilots do not always translate into national transformation. The discussion’s focus on interoperability, standards, and testing infrastructure therefore deserves attention. These are the less glamorous but indispensable foundations of a modern electricity system. A domestically manufactured product is not enough if it cannot integrate with utility systems, meet performance requirements, or scale reliably across geographies.
The concern over import-dependent materials is equally revealing. Even as India pushes self-reliance in strategic sectors, many critical inputs and components in electricity infrastructure still depend on external supply chains. That creates vulnerabilities that can slow execution and increase costs. A mature Make in India strategy in power distribution must therefore identify these weak links and address them systematically through targeted incentives, standard setting, procurement reform, and market assurance for credible domestic players. The summit session appears to have advanced precisely this conversation by placing domestic manufacturing within the broader framework of utility modernisation.
The closing remarks by Ravi Dhawan, Director (Distribution), Ministry of Power, reinforced the policy relevance of the session, while the larger context of the Bharat Electricity Summit 2026 gave it national visibility. Events like this matter when they move beyond ceremonial declarations and become vehicles for institutional alignment. India’s distribution sector needs capital, technology, governance reform, and industrial depth at the same time. REC and PFC, by convening this discussion, positioned themselves not only as financiers of infrastructure but as facilitators of ecosystem development.
That is an important shift. In the coming years, India’s ambition of becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047 will depend heavily on whether infrastructure systems are both modern and domestically anchored. Power distribution is central to that ambition because it shapes industrial productivity, urban growth, rural service delivery, and energy access. The Bharat Electricity Summit 2026 session made clear that advancing Make in India in this field is not a peripheral objective. It is increasingly a core requirement for building a more secure, technologically capable, and future-ready electricity sector.
