India has secured its position as the world’s third-largest country by installed renewable energy capacity, reaching 274.68GW as of March 31, 2026, with solar PV capacity alone surpassing 150GW, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced.
The nation now trails only China and the United States in cumulative renewable capacity, underscoring its rapid progress toward Prime Minister Modi’s 2030 pledge of 500GW of renewable and nuclear energy on the national grid.
The latest figures reflect a remarkable acceleration in renewable deployment: while the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported India’s total renewable capacity at 250.62GW as of December 31, 2025, MNRE data shows an additional 24.68GW was added in the first three months of 2026. This growth is driven primarily by solar energy, which has expanded 53.28 times since March 2014 – from a mere 2.82GW to 150.26GW in March 2026.
The 150.26GW solar capacity includes 110.43GW of utility-scale projects, 25.73GW of rooftop solar, and 14.10GW of KUSUM and off-grid initiatives that support agricultural operations, the MNRE noted.
The financial year 2025-26 marked several historic milestones for India’s solar sector, including the highest annual solar capacity addition on record (44.61GW) – more than double the previous peak of 23.83GW in 2024-25. The year also saw the highest monthly solar capacity addition (6.6GW) and the largest expansion of distributed and KUSUM-backed solar projects (16.31GW), which accounted for 36% of total solar additions in FY 2025-26.
This renewable expansion has translated into a greater share of clean energy in India’s electricity mix: non-fossil fuel sources contributed 29.2% of the country’s electricity during FY 2025-26, with a peak of 51.5% in July 2025. Notably, a new report from energy thinktank Ember, published this week, reveals that co-located solar and energy storage projects could theoretically meet 90% of India’s power demand by utilizing only around one-third of the country’s total feasible solar capacity. Ember’s analysis estimates this would require 930GW of solar capacity and 2,560GWh of battery storage, at a competitive levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of INR 5.06/kWh ($56/MWh).
Parallel to its renewable deployment, India has made significant strides in building a self-reliant solar manufacturing ecosystem. The MNRE reported that approximately 98GW of solar module manufacturing capacity was added in FY 2025-26, bringing the cumulative total to 172GW. Market research firm Mercom, however, places India’s module production capacity even higher at around 210GW, driven by rapid expansions from major players such as Waaree and Premier Energies, as well as smaller manufacturers.
The manufacturing boom has led to a sharp decline in solar module imports: between FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26, imports fell threefold, from over $2.152 billion to approximately $758 million. India is also expanding its upstream solar manufacturing capacity: Mercom data shows cell production capacity reached 27GW in 2025, with efforts underway to develop domestic silicon wafer and ingot production.
The MNRE further announced plans to launch an incentive scheme for ingot and wafer production under its Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) program in June 2026, extending the ALMM framework upstream to strengthen domestic supply chains.
