“We have been working on a support scheme for polysilicon. The finance ministry has, in principle, given a go-ahead on that. We will now have to move the proposal to the Cabinet. That will hopefully happen in a month. It is already under deliberation,” J V N Subramanyam, joint secretary at MNRE, told Business Standard in an exclusive interaction.
Polysilicon is the only segment of the domestic solar value chain that is not currently covered by a support mechanism. The government has already introduced measures to support domestic manufacturing across the rest of the value chain, including ingots and wafers, solar cells and modules, through initiatives such as the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and the approved list of models and manufacturers (ALMM).
Subramanyam said the new scheme could differ from existing interventions such as PLI and ALMM but did not share details, as the proposal is still being considered for Cabinet approval.
The government is targeting 30,000 megawatt of domestic polysilicon manufacturing capacity by 2030, which will require an investment of around ₹25,000 crore, MNRE Secretary Santosh K Sarangi recently said. The ministry has not introduced ALMM requirements for polysilicon because, while the ingot-to-module value chain is dominated by solar manufacturers globally, the same players may not enter polysilicon manufacturing, which is a different ball game, Sarangi told Business Standard in April.
Subramanyam said domestic renewable energy equipment manufacturing had become a success story, with the ministry providing policy certainty and creating a market, first through PLI a few years ago and then by introducing quality standards under ALMM.
“With these interventions, the country’s total solar module manufacturing capacity stands at 225 gigawatt (Gw) and cell manufacturing capacity at 37 Gw. We expect cell manufacturing capacity to rise to 50 Gw by March 2027. We already have applications for around 60 Gw,” Subramanyam said.
He said that, apart from launching separate schemes for ingots and wafers and polysilicon, the government also plans to explore ways to promote domestic manufacturing of components such as solar glass. The broader objective is to build the entire solar value chain in India.
Globally, the polysilicon industry is highly concentrated, with Chinese firms accounting for more than 93 per cent of production. Polysilicon is a key feedstock not only for solar photovoltaic cells but also for the semiconductor industry.
ALMM List-I for solar modules is already in force, while ALMM List-II for solar photovoltaic cells came into effect in June this year. In March, the ministry introduced ALMM List-III to promote domestic manufacturing of ingots and wafers. Under this provision, solar projects will be required to source these components locally from June 2028.
