Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Limited : improving WSS services through private sector partnerships

In Jamshedpur, India, the decision to grant utility services delivery to a commercial and customer-oriented company has improved service delivery substantially. The Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company Limited (JUSCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, was set up in August 2003 to improve the quality of civic services in Jamshedpur. The purpose of setting up a separate utility was to provide high level integrated utility services including water supply, power supply, waste management, and other allied civic services.
Up till then, municipal services were provided by Tata Steel’s Town Division Unit which operated as a cost-center for over 97 years. However, its operations were impacted by financial constraints, limited human resources and little exposure to modern technologies and processes, hampering the effective provision of essential services. The Town Division was under pressure to increase its scale of operations given the rapid population growth in the periphery of its service area. In order to address this situation Tata Steel signed a two-year technical partnership with Veolia Water, an international water company.

The technical tie-up with Veolia resulted in impressive service improvements and efficiency gains. Today, JUSCO is the only private operator in India, providing comprehensive municipal services up to about 500,000 people in Jamshedpur. This Field Note seeks to capture the initiative of converting a cost-centric service into a commercial and customer-oriented company. Based on its successful home operations, the private operator is exploring options for expanding its expertise beyond its own operating areas to other interested towns and cities, while continuously improving services in Jamshedpur.