New Delhi: Power Grid Corporation of India Limited’s (PGCIL) consolidated Profit after Tax (PAT) for FY2025-26 came in at Rs 15,928 crore, a 3 percent rise over the Rs 15,521 crore posted in FY25. On a standalone basis, PAT grew slightly faster at 4 percent, reaching Rs 15,921 crore against Rs 15,354 crore in FY25.
The total consolidated income was almost entirely flat at Rs 47,684 crore versus Rs 47,459 crore in FY25, a nominal 0.5 percent growth. Standalone total income fared only marginally better at Rs 46,996 crore, up 1 percent from Rs 46,325 crore. For a capital-intensive infrastructure company running Rs 40,000-crore-plus annual capex cycles, this revenue stagnation is the single most important data point that needs to be watched.
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On a consolidated basis, transmission charges were almost entirely flat at Rs 43,962 crore versus Rs 44,018 crore in FY25, a negligible decline. The standalone picture was worse: transmission charges fell 2 percent to Rs 40,013 crore from Rs 40,843 crore.
This divergence between standalone and consolidated numbers reflects the growing contribution of the company’s TBCB (Tariff-Based Competitive Bidding) subsidiaries to consolidated revenue, even as the parent entity’s own transmission billing eased. Importantly, billing for the full year stood at Rs 40,201 crore against realisation of Rs 40,684 crore, a realisation rate of 101.2 percent, meaning the company collected more than it billed due to recovery of prior-period dues. Outstanding dues also fell sharply to Rs 2,905 crore as of March 31, 2026, from Rs 3,388 crore in FY25 and Rs 4,795 crore in FY24. Collections quality is improving even as billing is not.
The standout performer in FY26 was consultancy, which more than doubled on a consolidated basis as revenue from this segment jumped 120 percent to Rs 1,755 crore from Rs 799 crore in FY25. The Smart Metering business at PESL (a Power Grid subsidiary) alone contributed Rs 832 crore. Standalone consultancy revenue rose 52 percent to Rs 891 crore. The consultancy business now spans 25 countries and 62 ongoing domestic projects, making it a meaningful and rapidly scaling revenue diversifier. Telecom (PowerTel) grew modestly at 4 percent on a consolidated basis to Rs 1,015 crore. However, other income on a consolidated basis collapsed 43 percent to Rs 952 crore from Rs 1,667 crore in FY25, a substantial drag that partially offset the consultancy gain.
Operating expenses on a consolidated basis rose 16 percent to Rs 7,875 crore from Rs 6,818 crore, outpacing revenue growth decisively. Standalone operating expenses rose 12 percent to Rs 6,978 crore. This cost escalation, attributed in part to the scale-up of new businesses and TBCB operations, compressed margins.
Consolidated EBITDA (gross margin) slipped 2 percent to Rs 39,677 crore from Rs 40,531 crore in FY25. Standalone EBITDA was virtually flat at Rs 40,018 crore versus Rs 40,080 crore.
The PAT growth despite EBITDA compression was enabled by two factors: a meaningful reduction in interest costs at the consolidated level (down 6 percent to Rs 7,816 crore from Rs 8,325 crore in FY25, reflecting inter-company eliminations and subsidiary-level optimisation), and a sharp fall in tax provisions. Standalone interest costs, however, rose 3 percent to Rs 9,419 crore from Rs 9,104 crore, a reflection of higher borrowings to fund capex.
The return on net worth declined on both bases: from 16.65 percent to 15.93 percent on a standalone basis, and from 16.75 percent to 15.85 percent on a consolidated basis. With debt rising 13 percent on both bases to Rs 1,48,009 crore, and the debt-to-equity ratio edging to 60:40 from 59:41, leverage is ticking up, though it remains within manageable limits given the regulated, annuity nature of transmission revenues.
The rising debt and higher operating costs deserve monitoring, but in the context of a company building out India’s critical power transmission infrastructure at record pace, the near-term margin compression appears structural and temporary rather than a cause for alarm.
The fourth quarter tells a more complex story. Consolidated PAT jumped 10 percent year-on-year to Rs 4,546 crore from Rs 4,143 crore in Q4FY25. But this was almost entirely driven by a dramatic collapse in tax provisions: consolidated tax in Q4FY26 was just Rs 33 crore, against Rs 1,012 crore in Q4FY25. At the operating level, consolidated EBITDA fell 5 percent to Rs 9,831 crore from Rs 10,384 crore. Total consolidated income declined 5 percent to Rs 11,971 crore from Rs 12,591 crore.
The transmission charges compression was sharper in Q4: consolidated transmission charges fell 7 percent YoY to Rs 10,820 crore from Rs 11,650 crore, while standalone transmission charges fell a steeper 11 percent to Rs 9,579 crore from Rs 10,751 crore, likely reflecting regulatory adjustments and true-up impacts in the quarter.
On a standalone basis, Q4 PAT grew 5 percent to Rs 4,553 crore from Rs 4,336 crore, again aided by a tax reversal (standalone tax was negative Rs 118 crore in Q4FY26 versus Rs 899 crore in Q4FY25). Standalone Q4 EBITDA fell 6 percent to Rs 9,928 crore from Rs 10,596 crore.
The consultancy segment provided vital support in Q4, consolidated consultancy revenue surged 56 percent to Rs 582 crore, while standalone consultancy rose 69 percent to Rs 392 crore. Standalone other income also rose 32 percent to Rs 1,984 crore, supported by interest received from subsidiaries (Rs 3,350 crore for full year, up from Rs 2,139 crore — underscoring the rapidly growing capital deployed in TBCB subsidiaries).
The most compelling argument for Power Grid’s future earnings growth lies not in today’s income statement, but in the capex trajectory. The company spent Rs 39,967 crore on capex in FY26 on a consolidated basis, well ahead of its own guidance of Rs 35,000 crore, a 14 percent outperformance. Capitalisation of assets stood at Rs 28,206 crore, also exceeding the Rs 25,000 crore guidance.
In physical terms, this translated to 4,765 circuit kilometres of new transmission lines (up from 4,054 ckm in FY25), 72,055 MVA of transformation capacity (more than double the 32,819 MVA added in FY25), and 9 new substations (versus 4 in FY25). Eight TBCB SPVs were operationalised during the year. The significantly higher capitalisation and asset addition pipeline is what will drive transmission charge revenues in FY27 and beyond, once assets stabilise and start generating regulated returns.
For FY27, the company has guided capex of Rs 37,000 crore and capitalisation of Rs 30,000 crore, suggesting the pace, while still elevated, will moderate somewhat from FY26’s exceptional delivery.
Consolidated gross fixed assets grew 10 percent to Rs 3,20,334 crore as of March 31, 2026, from Rs 2,90,715 crore a year earlier. Capital work-in-progress on a consolidated basis rose 32 percent to Rs 47,980 crore, providing strong forward visibility on future capitalisations.
System availability for FY26 stood at 99.84 percent, comfortably above the normative threshold of 99.75 percent and an improvement over 99.82 percent in FY25, maintaining the company’s streak of consistent 99 percent+ availability every year since FY22. Annual tripping per line continued its downward trend, falling to a five-year low of 0.26 in FY26 from 0.33 in FY22, aided by AI-based defect detection, drone-based line patrolling, and continuous condition monitoring of transformers and reactors.
Inter-regional transmission capacity stood at 1,01,180 MW, approximately 84 percent of the country’s total inter-regional capacity, underlining Power Grid’s irreplaceable role in India’s grid architecture.
Works in hand stood at approximately Rs 1.70 lakh crore as of March 31, 2026 (including CWIP of Rs 47,980 crore), comprising Rs 1,37,370 crore of TBCB projects (81 percent), Rs 28,931 crore of regulated transmission mechanism (RTM) projects (17 percent), and Rs 4,217 crore of other businesses, including BESS, smart metering, and international projects (2 percent).
The near-term bidding pipeline exceeds Rs 1.1 lakh crore, dominated by renewable energy integration projects — most notably the Rs 24,974 crore Rajasthan REZ Phase IV Barmer Complex HVDC project. The long-term sectoral opportunity is projected at over Rs 15 lakh crore, drawing from India’s CEA 900+ GW non-fossil capacity plan (Rs 7.9 lakh crore till FY36), Brahmaputra Basin hydro-linked HVDC corridors (Rs 6.4 lakh crore), and data centre and green hydrogen demand growth.
Competitive positioning remained intact as Power Grid won nine of 28 TBCB projects put out to bid in FY26, maintaining a cumulative tariff market share of approximately 44 percent across all TBCB projects since inception.
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The company secured its maiden BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) project through competitive bidding — a 150 MW/300 MWh standalone BESS at Kalikiri, Andhra Pradesh, with an annual tariff of Rs 29.52 crore. On the global front, Power Grid entered into its first international transmission PPP — a project in Kenya with Africa50, estimated at approximately USD 300 million. The company holds 40 percent equity in the Mwanga Transmission Company SPV formed for this project. A further framework agreement has been signed for transmission opportunities in Uganda.
On the technology front, FY26 saw the commissioning of what is described as the world’s first 765 kV digital substation, deployment of insulated cross-arms at the 400 kV voltage level on the Maharanibagh-Narela line (enabling approximately 20 percent reduction in right-of-way), and the development of an indigenously built 220 kV Mobile GIS capable of rapid emergency deployment.
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