India to mandate locally made solar ingots, wafers for clean energy projects from June 2028

NEW DELHI: India is proposing that clean energy firms use only locally made solar ingots and wafers from June 2028, the country's renewable energy ministry said on Wednesday, ‌in a ⁠move ⁠aimed at curbing Chinese imports.

With this, the South Asian country is looking to ensure the usage of domestically made components across the entire solar panel manufacturing chain.

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India currently has ​a manufacturing capacity of ⁠about 2 ‌gigawatt (GW) for ingots and ​wafers.

Companies including Waaree Energies, Tata Power and ⁠Indosol Solar have proposed billions of rupees of investments to build renewable manufacturing capacity as India aims to double its non-fossil fuel-based power capacity to 500 GW by 2030.

The government has already mandated the usage ‌of locally assembled solar panels in state-run projects even though components like cells, wafers, ingots ⁠and polysilicon could be imported.

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India currently relies entirely on China for its imports of cells, ​ingots, wafers and poly silicon for solar panels.

The country has also directed the use of domestically made solar cells from June 2026.