The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has discontinued the provision that allowed installation submissions containing duplicate entries of solar module or inverter serial numbers to be submitted based on a vendor undertaking under PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

The Ministry reviewed the provision and decided that vendor installation submissions for applications containing repeated solar module or inverter serial numbers will not be allowed, based on a vendor undertaking for all new applications submitted after May 26, 2026.

Earlier, the domestic content requirement verification portal was linked to the National Portal for verifying module serial numbers entered at the time of installation. Vendors were required to enter the 16-digit Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) certificate number in the National Portal. Based on that certificate number, the National Portal would fetch the module serial numbers allocated to a particular consumer in the DCR portal, along with module capacity.

Earlier, all vendors registered on the National Portal were required to generate the DCR certificate on the DCR portal for the end consumer. This business-to-consumer certificate number was to be used in the National Portal for fetching solar module serial numbers. The process was intended to address repeated serial number issues and avoid future cases requiring an undertaking.

The earlier framework stated that repeated serial number entries occurred because some vendors inadvertently or intentionally provided a serial number different from the actual installed module. It said the DCR certificate mechanism for solar modules would address this issue.

Repeated module serial numbers were to be flagged on the National Portal while vendors submitted installation details. Inverter serial numbers were to be entered manually, and repeated inverter serial numbers by manufacturer were also to be flagged. If a repeated flag appeared for any module or inverter serial number, vendors were required to submit a legal undertaking in the prescribed format.

The earlier framework also provided a process for applications that had already been submitted and were at various stages with repeated serial numbers. Such applications were to be returned to vendors with a repeated serial number flag. Vendors were allowed to fetch module serial numbers through the DCR certificate number, enter inverter serial numbers manually, and resubmit installation details with the undertaking if any repeated serial number flag remained.

Applications already inspected once by distribution companies and carrying repeated serial numbers were to be returned with a repeated serial number and a reverification flag. Distribution companies were required to conduct reverification to ensure data correctness. They were also required to enter the net metering date as the date the meter was actually installed, with no undue changes when resubmitting applications.

Applications with a reverification flag, and those due to which the flag was given, were also to be included in the 1% inspections conducted under third-party assessment.

The Ministry recently introduced an additional provision under the ‘Give It UP’ option, allowing consumers to forgo Central Financial Assistance without a DCR certificate under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

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