The aim of this research is to develop a holistic understanding of how smart grid systems, both in urban and rural India, can support India's transition to a low carbon electricity supply system. The main objectives include the development of a shared and cross-disciplinary understanding of smart grid systems and distributed storage facilities for urban and rural areas in India, with an emphasis on scaling-up potential; to understand interactions of technologies, resources, communication systems and stakeholders towards development of secure and cost-effective smart grid design, operation and management; to validate the modeling framework through a laboratory-scale, flexible, modular demonstration facility; and to analyze the system. This project is jointly carried out by IIT Kanpur and IIT Mandi. The lab demonstration setup is proposed at IIT Mandi.