The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited was incorporated on 23 October 1989[5] under the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized share capital of Rs.

[5] It also took over the operation of existing Regional Load Despatch Centers (RLDCs) from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), in a phased manner from 1994 to 1996, which have been upgraded and modernized with Unified Load Despatch and Communication (ULDC) schemes.

Later the company had diversified into the telecom sector for efficient use of its spare telecommunication capacity of unified load dispatch center (ULDC) schemes and also leverage on its country-wide transmission infrastructure.

Based on its performance, the firm was recognized as a Mini-Ratna Category-I Public Sector Undertaking in October 1998.

[5] Its transmission network consists of roughly 168,140 circuit kilometers and 252 EHVAC and HVDC substations,[5] with total transformation capacity of 422,430 MVA as on 31 January 2021, and an availability of over 99%.

Power Grid's telecom company, Powertel, operates a network of 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) and has points of presence in 3000+ locations across India.

Eastern transmission lines also failed, disrupting power supply in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Assam and Punjab, among other states.

[12] In late April 2021, PowerGrid floated an offer for sale via the Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) route.

1994 - Took over the management of Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre and transmission assets from Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd were transferred to the company.