From June 2026, Indian clean energy firms will be required to use locally manufactured solar cells sourced from a government-approved list of companies for all government projects, as announced by the country’s renewable energy ministry. This move aims to reduce reliance on Chinese imports.
India already mandates using locally made photovoltaic (PV) modules from an approved list of domestic manufacturers in government projects, and authorities have now extended this requirement to include solar cells.
The government aims to boost its non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from around 156 GW currently. India currently has a solar PV module manufacturing capacity of about 80 GW, while its cell manufacturing capacity is just over 7 GW. However, companies still depend heavily on Chinese-made cells for module production.
The ministry announced that the government will release a list of approved cell manufacturers, as the country’s installed solar PV cell capacity is expected to grow significantly next year.
Several Indian companies have already established or are in the process of setting up solar cell manufacturing plants.
Tata Power recently commissioned a 4.3 GW cell manufacturing plant in southern India, while Reliance Industries plans to begin a 20 GW integrated solar cell and module production facility in Gujarat by year-end.
Vikram V, Vice President of Corporate Ratings at ICRA, stated, “There is a possibility that the prices of modules using domestically made cells will be higher than the imported cells and that’s where scaling up the cell capacity and improvement in cost economics for cell manufacturing in India will be important.”
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Resource: Reuters
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