Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and Genesis Gas Solutions Private Limited (Genesis) have announced a Joint Venture Agreement to establish India’s first Integrated Smart Meter Manufacturing Plant with an investment of Rs. 1100 million. IGL and Genesis collaborated to build India’s first Integrated State-of-the-Art Smart Meter Manufacturing Plant to produce Diaphragm Gas Meters with IoT technologies such as LoRa / LoRaWAN, Bluetooth, NFC, NB-IoT, and others. These Smart Meters will provide a much-needed solution for managing consumers’ energy demand and metering with precision and in real time. The Smart Meter Manufacturing Plant will initially have an installed capacity of 1 million metres per year and is expected to be operational by April 2024.
Rise in disposable incomes, rapid urbanisation, climate stability challenges, and the government’s push for clean energy are driving up the market for gas distribution companies, boosting demand for smart metering solutions. IGL and Genesis intend to tap this demand not only for domestic consumers but also for the international market through the proposed Joint Venture by providing cutting-edge technology-based metering solutions designed for long-distance communications and capable of working in low-power networks / automated metering, and pre-paid metering.
The market for Gas Metering Solutions is currently dominated by offshore suppliers, with little presence from Indian players. This IGL and Genesis Joint Venture, announced in the spirit of the Government of India’s Make in India – Make for World initiative, will be instrumental in shifting the paradigm in favour of Indian players. The proposed Joint Venture will also develop necessary software, interface with in-built smart analytics / dashboards, and predictive maintenance protocols, as these are becoming essential for efficiently running any gas distribution business. The proposed joint venture between IGL and Genesis will have equity participation from both partners in the ratio of 51:49.
Genesis’ CMD made a statement on the occasion “This Joint Venture will be a game changer, revolutionising Smart Metering technology in India and providing a much-needed impetus to the concept of a Smarter and Digital India. We are confident that our investment in the expanding gas sector will be very beneficial to nation building, as energy accounting is as important, if not more important, than gas distribution. This Gas Meter manufacturing is one of many initiatives on which our group is focusing in order to meet both domestic and export requirements. Genesis’ MDM and Head End System are already recognised as essential for any gas distribution company.”