SolarSavings
India's approach to residential rooftop solar has evolved significantly over the past decade, culminating in the highly integrated PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.
Early Initiatives (2010 - 2015)
Initial solar policies were heavily focused on utility-scale solar parks. Residential rooftop solar was expensive, and net metering policies were non-existent or fragmented across states.
Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Phase II (2019 - 2024)
MNRE launched a structured subsidy program aiming for 4,000 MW of residential rooftop capacity. The process was highly decentralized; consumers had to apply through disjointed state DISCOM portals, leading to massive delays in subsidy disbursement (often taking up to 6 months).
National Portal for Rooftop Solar (July 2022)
To solve the bottleneck of state-level delays, the central government launched the National Portal. This unified the application process across the country and introduced Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), bypassing state treasuries and sending money directly to consumers within 30 days of commissioning.
PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (February 2024)
A massive ₹75,000 crore initiative targeting 1 crore households. It significantly increased the subsidy slabs (up to ₹78,000) and introduced heavily subsidized, collateral-free loans via public sector banks.