IBM on Wednesday announced a collaboration with The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in India to create the country's first smart grid project.

Together, they would create a cost benefit analysis for smart grid activities as part of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), IBM said in a statement.

A BEE project, NMEEE is one of eight national missions that promote innovative policy and regulatory regimes, financing mechanisms and business models that help sustain the market for energy efficiency.

Through this project, IBM plans to apply its services expertise to help determine smart grid readiness in India.

IBM said it would lay out a strategic assessment framework with an Indian perspective that looks at the adoption of new smart grid technologies and identifies alignments in policy and regulatory frameworks to make each solution possible.

"It will help BEE determine global smart grid potential and also create toolkits for regulators and utilities for assessing benefits of smart grid investment decisions," it said.

As part of this collaboration, IBM would generate the smart grid business case and tools that would help calculate the return on investment for all smart grid projects being rolled out country-wide and also within the ISGAN (International Smart Grid Action Network), of which BEE is a member.

The ISGAN network facilitates cooperation in smart grid policy and standardises, regulates and finances technology research development and demonstration, workforce skills and knowledge development, including consumer participation at all levels.

ISGAN participants include Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, the European Commission, France, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States.