Gujarat sees highest coverage under PM's rooftop solar installations scheme; Bengal, Jharkhand lag

The Print

23-07-2025

According to data provided by the MNRE Wednesday, the implementation of the policy since February 2024 has been inconsistent across states. Gujarat and Maharashtra are leading, with 5.23 and 3.79 lakh households covered, respectively, but the scheme is yet to cover even 1,000 households in states such as Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is a central scheme introduced in February 2024 to provide rooftop solar installations in one crore households. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore until 2026-27. The scheme grants residential households subsidies of 40-60 percent for solar panel installations.
New Delhi: As of 14 July, the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, the solar rooftop scheme of the Centre, had benefitted 15.45 lakh households, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has informed the Parliament. Nearly 5.23 lakh of those households—33 percent—are located in one state, Gujarat.
'The scheme is demand-driven, meaning all residential consumers in the country … can avail the benefits of the scheme by applying on the National Portal,' according to a written response submitted by the MNRE on Wednesday during the ongoing monsoon session.
The National Portal has noted 57 lakh applications from across the nation, but only 12.7 lakh completed installations.
The total installed capacity under the scheme is 4.8 Gigawatts so far, with 1.4 Gigawatts of that in Gujarat alone.
Responding to another question in the Parliament—whether Karnataka is significantly lagging in rolling out the mission—Wednesday, the MNRE noted that Karnataka had completed over 14,000 installations by 31 May, while receiving more than two lakh applications under the scheme.
The ministry also informed the Parliament that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka state government in September 2024 to help with solar panel installations. It added that the National Portal had 'simplified' the process of obtaining loans to install rooftop solar panels.
States by highest & lowest installations
Under the scheme, the target of one crore residential solar rooftop installations is likely to be achieved by the end of March 2027. Union Territories, such as Chandigarh and Daman and Diu, have already met 100 percent of their targets for solar panel installations at government buildings.
Currently, the top states in rooftop solar installations are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Kerala. Of those, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Kerala alone account for 10.39 lakh household installations (67 percent).
Besides Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Jammu and Kashmir, the states with the lowest installed capacity are in the Northeast—Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, and Sikkim.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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