DRE schemes to cut states' ₹2.4 trillion subsidy burden, says MNRE

Distributed renewable energy schemes under PM Kusum and PM Surya Ghar to lower subsidy burden and boost solar adoption across agriculture and households

Distributed renewable energy (DRE) initiatives, part of the PM Kusum scheme and PM Surya Ghar Yojana, are accelerating solarisation of agriculture and households, and are likely to reduce states’ ₹2.4 lakh crore electricity subsidy burden over time, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) secretary Santosh Sarangi said. He was addressing the media on the ministry’s achievements in 2025-26.

 

Speaking at the same event, new and renewable energy minister Pralhad Joshi said the PM Kusum scheme has covered almost the entire farming community’s irrigation needs in Maharashtra. “Subsidy given to farmers has been reduced because of this. The state government is trying to bring down the tariffs for industry and domestic households,” Joshi said.

   

India added 16.3 gigawatt of DRE capacity in 2025-26, contributing 36 per cent to the annual solar capacity addition. Of this, 6.6 GW of DRE capacity was added in March alone.

 

Under PM Surya Ghar, India added more than 18.7 lakh rooftop solar installations in FY26, compared with 8.51 lakh installations in FY25. Daily addition currently stands at 11,000. “Therefore, I am cautioning the state governments and the public at large that this scheme is first-come-first-serve,” he said.

 

The country added 44 GW of solar energy capacity last financial year, while total non-fossil capacity addition stood at 55.3 GW. India has reached 150 GW of cumulative solar installed capacity at the end of March 2026. The share of non-fossil sources in total generation has reached 29 per cent in FY26, from 25 per cent in FY25. In contrast, the share of fossil sources has come down from 74.5 per cent to 70.8 per cent in FY26.

 

On the manufacturing front, Joshi said India’s current solar module capacity is 172 GW, while that of wind turbines is 24 GW. Further, imports of solar modules have declined threefold, from $2,152 million in FY25 to $758 million in FY26. An expenditure of ₹24,176 crore was incurred in 2025-26 against the Budget estimate of ₹26,549.38 crore, the ministry said.

 

The ministry also said that to support renewable energy evacuation, the government released around ₹787 crore during FY26 for development of transmission infrastructure under the Green Energy Corridor programme.