The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has agreed to extend a loan of $49.5 million to Genus Power Infrastructures (Genus) for the expansion of electric smart meters implementation across India.

DFC is the development finance institution of the United States.

Genus has manufacturing plants across Jaipur, Haridwar, and Guwahati, with an installed capacity of over 10 million smart meters.

The company has developed smart metering solutions with its in-house research and development center and also has an engineering, construction, and contracts division that complements the existing meters business.

Genus has been participating in the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider (AMISP) program, an initiative by the government of India to implement smart metering projects.

Recently, Genus was awarded nearly 4 million meters under the program and is actively pursuing additional projects, the company said.

Jitendra Kumar Agarwal, Joint MD of Genus, said he believes that this collaboration positions Genus to emerge as a key player in the AMISP market.

The government is implementing the Smart Metering Project nationwide through the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS). The project aims to install 250 million meters and make a targeted investment of $30 billion by 2025.

The installation of smart meters under the program is expected to address the problem of technical and commercial losses, which exceed 15% for major Indian utilities, leading to significant financial losses.

The implementation of smart metering projects is intended to reduce such losses, enhance the operational efficiency of DISCOMs (distribution companies), and improve their financial sustainability through results-linked financial assistance.

The Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses of DISCOMs declined significantly to ~17% in the financial year 2021-22 from 22.32% in the previous year, thanks to a series of steps taken by the Ministry of Power.

In October 2022, Energy Efficiency Services, as part of its Smart Meter National Program, installed over three million smart meters in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, and Andaman. EESL aims to install over 4.7 million smart meters by December 2023.