PM Surya Ghar Has Put Rooftop Solar on More Than 60 Lakh Indian Households in Under Three Years, and the Centre Has Paid Rs 33,642 Crore in Subsidy

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said in early October 2026 that PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana had crossed 60 lakh households, which is 60 per cent of its target of one crore. The ministry’s update, published on 8 October, counts 50,99,781 rooftop systems with 17,855.3 MW of capacity, and Rs 33,642 crore of subsidy paid straight into bank accounts. A lakh is 100,000, and a crore is 100 lakh.

The Prime Minister launched the scheme on 13 February 2024. The ministry says the first lakh households took 118 days to reach and the latest lakh took six. A household that installs panels uses its own daytime power and sells the surplus to the local electricity distribution company, called a DISCOM, under a net-metering agreement.

From 8.46 lakh households to 60 lakh

Before the scheme, India had put up 7.94 lakh rooftop solar installations in ten years, according to the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The dated counts since then:

• 27 January 2025: 8.46 lakh households (PIB, 12 February 2025).
• 10 March 2025: 10 lakh homes (PIB, 13 March 2025).
• 4 June 2026: more than 40 lakh beneficiary households (PIB).
• 4 August 2026: 50.06 lakh households (PIB).
• Early October 2026: more than 60 lakh households (MNRE update, 8 October).

PIB reported 3.16 lakh installations in May 2026, a monthly record at the time, and on 4 August it reported 5.06 lakh households in July 2026, a new record. The daily rate rose from 5,038 in October 2025 to 16,328 in July 2026, which the release calls an increase of 3.2 times in nine months. By this piece’s arithmetic, the move from 50.06 lakh to 60 lakh took about two months.

Households and systems are two different counts

The ministry reports both numbers, and they differ. PIB’s release of 4 June 2026 gave more than 33 lakh rooftop systems installed as of May 2026 and more than 40 lakh beneficiary households. In the Lok Sabha on 29 July 2026, the Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy and Power gave 40,45,298 systems benefiting 48,80,796 households on 27 July.

The reply does not say why households outnumber systems. The gap is widest in Gujarat, with 7,66,278 systems and 11,07,607 households, and in Maharashtra, with 6,92,853 and 10,78,535. In Uttar Pradesh the two numbers are close, at 7,03,661 and 7,11,324. The 60 lakh figure in October is a household count, and the 50,99,781 is a count of systems. This article says which one each figure is.

What the subsidy pays, worked out

The Union Cabinet approved the scheme on 29 February 2024 with an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore. The Central Financial Assistance (CFA), as the subsidy is called, is 60 per cent of system cost for a 2 kW system and 40 per cent of the extra cost between 2 kW and 3 kW. It stops at 3 kW. At the benchmark prices of that time, the Cabinet release says, that means Rs 30,000 for a 1 kW system, Rs 60,000 for 2 kW, and Rs 78,000 for 3 kW or more.

PIB’s February 2025 release ties system size to monthly use. A home using 0 to 150 units a month is matched with 1 to 2 kW and a subsidy of Rs 30,000 to Rs 60,000. From 150 to 300 units, the match is 2 to 3 kW and Rs 60,000 to Rs 78,000. Above 300 units, it is more than 3 kW and Rs 78,000. The Cabinet release says a 3 kW system makes more than 300 units a month on average.

Renewable Watch reported on 9 July 2025 that MNRE’s amended guidelines fixed the rates at Rs 30,000 a kW for the first 2 kW and Rs 18,000 for the third kW, with nothing beyond 3 kW. For special category states and union territories the rates are Rs 33,000 and Rs 19,800. The same report says states may add their own subsidy, only projects with Indian-made modules and cells qualify, and vendors must maintain a system for five years. Housing societies can claim for common facilities, up to 3 kW per house and 500 kW overall.

By January 2025 PIB had counted Rs 4,308.66 crore paid to 5.54 lakh residential consumers, an average of Rs 77,800 a household. MNRE’s October update puts the total at Rs 33,642 crore. The 4 August release adds Rs 3,807.6 crore released as incentives to DISCOMs and about Rs 104 crore to urban local bodies.

Loans, paperwork and the vendors

The loan is collateral-free, at the repo rate plus 50 basis points, which the Minister of State put at 5.75 per cent a year, over ten years, in his Lok Sabha reply of 29 July 2026. PIB’s 4 August release says loans were sanctioned for 21.87 lakh applicants and that 17.5 lakh installations had been completed with loan finance.

Application, approval, net-metering agreement and subsidy all run through one online portal. The Lok Sabha reply lists a feasibility check waived for systems up to 10 kW, and a helpline, 15555, in 12 languages. PIB adds that 32 states and union territories have dropped application and net-metering charges, and that the portal connects to more than 80 DISCOMs. The subsidy is released within 15 days.

On the supply side, PIB counted 34,219 registered vendors on 4 August, of whom 29,469 were active, and about 23,000 third-party quality inspections. The October update says more than 37,000 vendors are registered and more than 2.5 lakh people have been trained, against a pool of 3 lakh the ministry wants. PIB’s April 2026 release says the GST rate on renewable energy devices and parts fell from 12 to 5 per cent on 22 September 2025.

Which states lead

The Lok Sabha annexure for 27 July 2026 ranks states by systems. Gujarat has 7,66,278, Uttar Pradesh 7,03,661, Maharashtra 6,92,853, Kerala 3,05,977 and Rajasthan 2,72,818. Subsidy released stands at Rs 5,597.04 crore for Gujarat, Rs 5,017.02 crore for Maharashtra and Rs 4,652.73 crore for Uttar Pradesh. The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a Delhi research group, says Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala together account for more than 70 per cent of national installed rooftop capacity.

A second route is meant for lower-income families. Under the Utility Led Aggregation model, in which utilities help carry out the installations, PIB counted 1.6 lakh installations for PMAY, BPL and SC/ST households in four states by 4 August. The ministry has sanctioned the model in 12 states, and on 4 June the Union Minister said about 30 lakh installations were planned under it.

Government buildings count under the same scheme. The central ministries have solarised 25,255 buildings with 872 MW, out of 41,542 feasible ones, and states have solarised 81,329 buildings with 1,450 MW. Together that is 1.06 lakh buildings.

What households report

MNRE’s October update says more than 20.7 lakh households have zero electricity bills, up from nearly 19 lakh in PIB’s August release. Energetica India, reporting a Lok Sabha reply in July, said distribution companies supplied the count and that a zero bill depends on how much of the power a family uses itself in a billing cycle.

PIB also reports that more than 12 lakh households together earned Rs 421 crore in 2024-25 by selling surplus power, about Rs 3,500 a year each.

CEEW’s national survey, released on 4 June 2026, covered more than 17,000 households in 22 states by telephone between January and April 2026. Adopters reported an average cut of 71 per cent in their electricity bills, 93 per cent were satisfied with the savings, and 87 per cent would recommend their vendor. Among households willing to install, 81 per cent named lower bills as the main reason. CEEW also found that nearly two-thirds of applicants go on to install.

Rooftops inside India’s solar total

PIB’s April 2026 release puts India’s solar capacity at 150.26 GW on 31 March 2026, up from 2.82 GW in March 2014. Of the 44.61 GW added in 2025-26, 8.7 GW was rooftop and 7.6 GW came under the separate PM KUSUM scheme. A Lok Sabha reply of 22 July 2026 gave 162.15 GW at 30 June 2026, made up of 125.60 GW of utility-scale plants, 30.11 GW of rooftop systems of every kind and 6.43 GW off-grid. For the full national series, see India’s installed solar capacity.

The scheme’s own capacity was over 3 GW on 10 March 2025 and 14.8 GW on 4 August 2026. MNRE’s October count of 17,855.3 MW is about 60 per cent of the 30 GW the Cabinet release set as the scheme’s goal for homes. The Lok Sabha reply says power made near where it is used cuts distribution losses and daytime peak demand. In a reply of 22 July 2026 the ministry put India’s non-fossil capacity at 297.36 GW on 30 June, against the pledge of 500 GW by 2030, and the non-fossil milestone article tracks that count.

The targets ahead

The scheme’s target is one crore households by 2026-27, which PIB has put as March 2027. On 4 June the Union Minister said he hoped to pass 75 lakh households by December 2026, and said more than 65 lakh applications were in the pipeline. From 60 lakh in early October, 75 lakh by 31 December needs about 18,000 households a day, by this piece’s arithmetic. The ministry’s stated pace of one lakh households every six days is about 16,700 a day. For one crore by 31 March 2027, the remaining 40 lakh at most would need about 23,000 a day.

Two independent reviews describe the work still ahead. Parliament’s Standing Committee on Energy said in December 2025, citing ministry figures of about 16 lakh installations by June 2025, that progress was slow, and named lack of awareness as the main reason. The count of systems has since reached 50,99,781. CEEW found that 57 per cent of surveyed households knew rooftop solar could power a home, and that among those who thought it expensive, almost three in four did not know about financing. CEEW fellow Rishabh Jain said the next step is turning awareness into confident action.

The scheme also depends on the states. Electricity is entry 38 on the Concurrent List, which Parliament and the states share. The Centre pays the subsidy, and an All India Radio report on the 2024 DISCOM guidelines says the distribution companies are the state implementation agencies, responsible for net-meter availability, inspection and commissioning. A working paper from the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), in July 2025, modelled Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and recommended valuing exports at wholesale or regulator-set rates and tying subsidies for larger systems to storage. MNRE’s releases say the scheme reduces the subsidy burden on DISCOMs.

The ministry’s update of 8 October puts subsidy paid at Rs 33,642 crore, about 45 per cent of the Rs 75,021 crore outlay by this piece’s arithmetic.