India Rises to Third Globally in Installed Renewable Energy Capacity, but Supply Chain Gaps Remain

India has emerged as the world’s third-largest country in installed renewable energy capacity, marking a major milestone in the country’s clean energy transition. According to a News On Air report citing Morgan Stanley, India’s renewable energy expansion is helping reduce external dependence, but the next stage of success will depend on how quickly the country localises critical upstream segments such as solar cells, wafers and polysilicon.

The development reflects the scale at which India’s power sector has changed over the past decade. Renewable energy is no longer a side component of the electricity system, but one of its central pillars. Solar and wind energy have driven most of the recent capacity additions, while policy support, falling technology costs, rooftop solar expansion and large-scale utility projects have helped accelerate deployment across the country.

News On Air reported that India’s non-fossil fuel capacity has crossed 50 percent of total installed capacity, reaching 262.7 gigawatts. It also noted that solar and wind energy account for the bulk of recent additions. Official MNRE figures released earlier said India had installed 283.46 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity as of March 31, 2026, including 274.68 GW from renewable energy and 8.78 GW from nuclear power.

Solar power has been the biggest driver of this transformation. As per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy data cited by News On Air, India’s domestic solar module capacity nearly doubled from 38 GW in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025, while solar cell capacity increased from 9 GW to 25 GW during the same period. The latest MNRE update further shows that India’s solar installed capacity reached 150.26 GW by March 2026, a massive jump from just 2.82 GW in March 2014.

Wind energy has also remained a crucial part of India’s renewable basket. MNRE said wind installed capacity rose from 21.04 GW in March 2014 to 56.09 GW in March 2026, while wind turbine manufacturing capacity increased from 10 GW in 2014 to about 24 GW by March 2026. This expansion has helped India strengthen its position not only as a renewable energy market but also as a growing manufacturing base for clean energy technologies.

However, the Morgan Stanley-linked assessment also points to an important weakness. While India has rapidly expanded downstream deployment, it still relies heavily on imports for key upstream solar components. In FY2025, India imported around 35 million solar modules worth about $1.6 billion, with an estimated 60 to 80 percent sourced from China, according to the News On Air report.

This dependence matters because the clean energy transition is not only about installing solar panels and wind turbines. It is also about controlling the manufacturing chain behind them. For India, localising cells, wafers, polysilicon, batteries, inverters and other critical components will be central to energy security, industrial competitiveness and the broader Aatmanirbhar Bharat strategy.

The government has already been trying to address this gap through domestic manufacturing incentives, quality control measures and policy support for solar and battery supply chains. MNRE has said India’s solar module manufacturing capacity increased from 2.3 GW in 2014 to about 172 GW by March 2026, while renewable energy installed capacity increased 3.59 times from 76.38 GW in March 2014 to 274.68 GW in March 2026.

The larger target remains ambitious. India is working towards achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, in line with the commitment announced at COP26. Achieving that goal will require not only more solar parks, rooftop systems, wind farms and storage capacity, but also stronger transmission networks, faster project clearances and deeper domestic manufacturing.

India’s rise to third place globally shows that the country has already entered the front rank of the world’s renewable energy powers. The next challenge is to convert that deployment success into manufacturing strength, supply-chain resilience and long-term energy independence.