India to launch polysilicon incentive scheme to boost local manufacturing

India is preparing a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to encourage domestic polysilicon manufacturing, the country’s top clean energy ministry official said on Friday.

The proposed scheme would extend India’s manufacturing incentive programme further into the solar supply chain and help reduce dependence on imports, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, secretary at the clean energy ministry, said at a Confederation of Indian Industry event in New Delhi.

Polysilicon is a key raw material used in solar photovoltaic panels, and India currently relies entirely on imports from China.

India is targeting 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030.

The renewable energy ministry has increasingly focused on expanding local manufacturing as developers accelerate solar installations, with the aim of reducing reliance on imported equipment and building a domestic supply chain.

India has previously offered Rs 240 billion ($2.52 billion) in manufacturing-linked incentives for solar panel and cell production.

The proposed polysilicon scheme could cover more than 10 GW of production capacity, Sarangi said, without disclosing the size of the financial incentive.

The move is part of New Delhi’s efforts to develop an integrated solar manufacturing ecosystem covering modules, cells, wafers, ingots and polysilicon, sectors that are globally dominated by Chinese producers.

India has already built more than 200 GW of solar panel manufacturing capacity and more than 32 GW of solar cell capacity, while another 100 GW of solar cell capacity is expected to come online within about a year, Sarangi said.

The country is also targeting at least 80 GW of solar ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity by June 2028, he said.

Deeper domestic manufacturing would strengthen India’s clean energy ambitions and industrial competitiveness, Sarangi said.

He added that polysilicon also has semiconductor applications, potentially expanding the economic benefits of new investment beyond solar manufacturing.

(With inputs from agencies)