Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India now ranks third globally in installed renewable energy capacity. A new report by Morgan Stanley says India’s renewable energy transition will help reduce external dependence, but its success will depend on how quickly the country localises critical segments such as solar cells, wafers, and polysilicon.
Renewable energy is the central pillar of India’s mediumterm strategy to structurally reduce external energy dependence, according to the report. Domestic module manufacturing capacity has expanded rapidly, supported by PLI schemes and customs duties.
Recent data from MNRE suggests a sharp uptick in domestic solar manufacturing capacity, with module capacity rising from 38 GW in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025 and cell capacity from 9 GW to 25 GW in the same period.
“However, in upstream segments, such as solar cells, wafers and polysilicon, India’s renewable deployment remains partly reliant on imported components. In FY2025, India imported approximately 35 million solar modules valued at around $1.6 billion, with an estimated 60-80 per cent of these imports sourced from China,” said the report. While renewable transition reduces fossil fuel dependence, it doesn’t eliminate external exposure linked to manufacturing supply chains.
While deployment capacity has scaled quickly, upstream manufacturing capabilities have not kept pace. As a result, a meaningful portion of the solar ecosystem remains exposed to external supply chains, especially from China, said the report. Non-fossil installed capacity has now crossed 50 per cent of total capacity, touching 262.7 GW in November 2025, with solar (132.9 GW) and wind (54GW) accounting for the bulk of incremental additions, according to the report.
