Sunday 09 / August / 2026
NEW DELHI— India is preparing a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to promote domestic polysilicon manufacturing as it seeks to deepen its solar supply chain and reduce dependence on imports from China, the country’s top clean energy ministry official said on Friday.
Santosh Kumar Sarangi, secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said at a Confederation of Indian Industry event in New Delhi that the proposed scheme could support more than 10 GW of polysilicon production capacity, although the government has not yet disclosed the size of the financial incentives.
Polysilicon is a key raw material used to manufacture solar photovoltaic panels, and India currently relies entirely on imports from China for the material.
The move is part of New Delhi’s broader effort to establish an integrated domestic solar manufacturing ecosystem covering polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells and modules. Chinese producers currently dominate several segments of the global solar supply chain.
India has already introduced ₹240 billion ($2.52 billion) in manufacturing-linked incentives for solar panels and cells. Sarangi said the country now has more than 200 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity and over 32 GW of solar cell capacity. A further 100 GW of cell manufacturing capacity is expected to become operational within about a year.
India is also targeting at least 80 GW of solar ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity by June 2028, Sarangi said.
The push comes as India accelerates renewable energy deployment and works toward its target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030. Greater domestic production is intended to reduce exposure to imported equipment while strengthening the country's clean-energy manufacturing base and industrial competitiveness.
Sarangi also noted that polysilicon has applications in the semiconductor industry, potentially expanding the economic benefits of investments in domestic production beyond solar manufacturing.
