India Prepares New Production-Linked Incentive Scheme for Domestic Polysilicon Manufacturing
The Indian government is formulating a new production-linked incentive scheme to stimulate domestic polysilicon production, aiming to deepen the country’s solar manufacturing supply chain and reduce its total dependence on Chinese imports.
What Happened
Speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry event in New Delhi, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, announced that a fresh incentive mechanism is being prepared for polysilicon manufacturing. Polysilicon is an essential raw material for solar photovoltaic panels, and India currently depends entirely on China to meet its supply requirements.
According to Sarangi, the upcoming scheme is expected to support over 10 gigawatts (GW) of domestic production capacity. While the official financial outlay for the proposed polysilicon incentive has not yet been disclosed, the initiative builds on India’s previous allocation of Rs 24,000 crore ($2.52 billion) for solar panel and solar cell manufacturing schemes.
Key Highlights
- Targeted Capacity: The proposed incentive framework aims to support more than 10 GW of polysilicon manufacturing capacity.
- Addressing Import Reliance: India currently relies completely on Chinese imports for polysilicon, an essential component for solar PV equipment.
- Broadening Supply Chain: The initiative seeks to build an end-to-end integrated manufacturing base spanning polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules.
- Current Manufacturing Base: India has already established over 200 GW of solar module capacity and more than 32 GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity.
- Upcoming Expansions: An additional 100 GW of cell manufacturing is projected to be operational within roughly a year, alongside a target of at least 80 GW of ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity by June 2028.
- Semiconductor Relevance: In addition to solar energy, polysilicon serves as a critical material for semiconductor manufacturing, offering wider industrial potential.
Why This Matters
India is working toward an overarching goal of deploying 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel electricity capacity by 2030. To support massive solar installations without severe exposure to foreign supply chains, the renewable energy ministry is pushing to localize earlier stages of production.
Segments such as polysilicon, wafers, and ingots remain globally dominated by Chinese manufacturers. Establishing domestic polysilicon production helps bridge the final critical upstream gap in India’s solar ecosystem while enhancing industrial competitiveness. Furthermore, because polysilicon is also utilised in semiconductor manufacturing, new investments could yield industrial benefits beyond the solar sector.
What to Watch Next
Details regarding the financial scale and formal rollout timeline of the polysilicon incentive scheme are expected to be outlined by the clean energy ministry. Meanwhile, the sector will track the commissioning of approximately 100 GW of upcoming solar cell capacity over the next year and the progression toward the 80 GW solar ingot and wafer capacity goal set for June 2028.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is polysilicon and why is it important?
Polysilicon is a fundamental raw material used to manufacture solar photovoltaic panels as well as semiconductor devices.
Where does India currently source its polysilicon?
India currently depends entirely on imports from China to fulfill its polysilicon requirements.
What is India’s clean energy target for 2030?
India aims to achieve 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power capacity by the year 2030.
Source: Confederation of Indian Industry event address by Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, clean energy ministry; reported by The Hindu BusinessLine.