Government Approves ₹1.53 Lakh Crore for Infrastructure to Reduce Losses Under RDSS

New Delhi, August 11: On Monday, Parliament was informed that the government has approved financial assistance of ₹1.53 lakh crore for infrastructure projects aimed at reducing losses under the Reformed Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).

Electricity Minister of State, Shri Prakash Javadekar, announced that ₹1.31 lakh crore has been allocated for smart metering initiatives under this scheme.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Power, the financial assistance includes digitization efforts for distribution units, which encompass smart metering for 19.79 crore consumers, 2.05 lakh feeders, and 52.53 lakh distribution transformers (DTs).

Additionally, ₹2,627 crore has been sanctioned for SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and DMS (Distribution Management System) projects across 394 cities.

The costs for IT/OT initiatives, including Enterprise Resource Planning, Unified Billing, GIS, and Real-Time Data Acquisition Systems, amount to ₹3,999 crore.

Smart distribution projects worth ₹8,608 crore have been approved for seven cities. These projects include SCADA and smart technology initiatives, GIS substations, distribution transformer health management, undergrounding HT/LT lines, and system enhancement/upgradation works.

Since the fiscal year 2023, ₹47,124 crore has been released under the RDSS, which includes ₹2,733 crore allocated for smart metering projects.

The government has also launched the India Energy Stack (IES), aimed at creating a universal digital system for data exchange in the electricity sector and promoting digitization across the country.

For training and capacity building of DISCOM personnel in various areas, including digital systems under the RDSS, ₹100.9 crore has been allocated. As of July 2026, ₹23.36 crore has been utilized, training a total of 14,853 personnel.

The minister emphasized that electricity is a concurrent subject, and consumers fall under the jurisdiction of the respective state government and state electricity regulatory commission for management.