pune big names in the utility community will gather at the india utility knowledge and networking conference 2013 on february 12 in new delhi to debate about effective operational strategies for utility providers it is perhaps the first operational rollout focused conference of indian utility ppps particularly power distribution franchisees and water 247 models bringing together speakers and delegates representing all stakeholders including government discoms urban local bodies private operators new entrants service providers regulators non governmental organisations investors customers consultants academics and research and development organizations currently the model is implemented in cities like nagpur jalgaon aurangabad and bhivandi in maharashtra sagar ujjain gwalior in mp agra in uttar pradesh and also in cities in orissa andhra pradesh while states like haryana bihar and jharkhand are considering implementation soon led by experts from manifold and pwc india the conference will focus around five key sessions including baseline and ppp contract design improvements enhancement of service delivery through process improvements and employee engagement engagement with customers continuously to expedite loss reduction partnering with vendors to raise managed services models and enhancing confidence in investors and raising finances last mile service delivery in the power and water utilities can only improve if all stakeholders come together and join hands to share and learn best practices and challenges from each other we are glad to have attracted more than 34 best of the industry speakers and delegates to participate in the event said faiz wahid director pmanifold business solutions who is organizing this conference the conference has confirmed speakers who are business and functional leaders from different organizations including world bank maharashtra jeevan pradhikaran smart grid forum enzen tata power vishwa infra essel group ibm infosys secure meter among others