PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana hits 10 lakh rooftop solar installations in first year

NEW DELHI, India's flagship rooftop solar program, the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, crossed the 10 lakh (1 million) installation mark on Tuesday, just 12 months after its launch. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said the scheme has now covered 40% of its first-phase target of 2.5 crore (25 million) households by 2027.

"This is a solid start, but we need to keep the pace up," said a senior MNRE official who asked not to be named. "The next 15 lakh installations will be harder, they're in states with weaker infrastructure and lower awareness."

The scheme, announced in February 2024, gives households a subsidy of up to ₹78,000 for installing a 3 kW rooftop solar system. It also offers a loan option at 7% interest through public sector banks. The goal is to cut electricity bills for poor and middle-class families while pushing India toward its 500 GW renewable energy target by 2030.

Who is leading?

Gujarat tops the list with 2.3 lakh installations, followed by Maharashtra (1.8 lakh) and Rajasthan (1.5 lakh). Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh round out the top five. These five states account for 62% of all installations under the scheme.

But the numbers hide a big gap. Rural areas, where power cuts are common and electricity costs eat into household incomes, have seen only 3.2 lakh installations. That's less than a third of the total. "The scheme is working well in cities and towns where people already have net metering and stable grid connections," said Rohan Parikh, director of the energy research group at the Centre for Policy Studies in Mumbai. "In villages, the challenge is getting banks to approve loans and finding local installers."

The government has tried to fix this. In October, it launched a special drive in 100 high-potential districts, offering doorstep registration and faster subsidy approvals. MNRE data shows installations in these districts jumped 40% between October and December.

Money and jobs

The scheme has also created work. The Ministry estimates it has generated 1.2 lakh direct jobs, mostly in installation, sales, and maintenance. Vendors like Luminous, Tata Power Solar, and Havells have reported a surge in orders. "We've hired 3,000 people this year just for this scheme," said a spokesperson for Luminous Power Technologies.

But there are complaints. Some households say the subsidy takes three to four months to arrive, forcing them to borrow money. "I applied in May, got the system installed in June, but the subsidy came only in September," said Sunita Devi, a teacher in Karnal, Haryana. "I had to take a personal loan at 12% interest to cover the gap."

The MNRE says it has now tied the subsidy payment directly to the installation date and is using a centralised portal to speed things up. "We've reduced the average wait to 45 days," the official said.

What next?

The scheme's next target is 1.5 crore installations by 2028. To get there, the government needs to add about 1.2 lakh installations every month, roughly double the current rate. "If we keep growing at 10% month-on-month, we can hit that number," the MNRE official said. "But it depends on state governments pushing harder on awareness and banks loosening their loan criteria."

For now, the 10 lakh mark is a milestone. But as Parikh put it: "The easy customers are done. Now the real work begins."