Towards Indian Smart Grids

India is struggling to meet the electric power demands of a fast expanding economy. Restructuring of the power industry has only increased several challenges for the power system engineers. A major chunk of the power losses is a direct derivative of the poor management of distribution networks. Distribution automation (DA) has been aimed at reducing losses, and improving reliability and financial viability of state utilities. Firstly, this paper presents various benefits achieved by major Indian utilities in transitioning towards automation. Enroute to the proposed vision of introducing viable smart grids (SG) at various levels in the Indian power systems, it is recommended that an advanced automation mechanism needs to be adapted. This is then projected to be feasible through invariable dependance on several open standards, whose integration for interoperability, flexibility, scalability, modularity and vendor neutrality is deemed pivotal. Various examples of existing structures of automation in India are employed to underscore some of the views presented in this paper. Finally, a potential SG architecture for Indian power systems is proposed with a discussion on its implications.