The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will receive ~Rs.53.41 billion (~$817 million) from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) for financial year 2017-2018.

The National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) was created in 2010 to fund the cost of research and innovative projects using clean energy technologies by public and private sector entities. The fund has evolved under the NDA administration and is now rebranded as Clean Environment Cess from the earlier Clean Energy Cess to include river cleaning and other projects. The Cess, which was Rs.50 (~$0.74) per ton when it was introduced in 2010, was raised to Rs.100 (~$1.5) per ton in 2014 and to Rs.200 (~$3) per ton in the 2015-2016 budget. It was again doubled from Rs.200 (~$3)/ton to Rs.400 (~$6)/ton in the 2016-17 budget.

For the financial year 2017-2018, a budget allocation of ~Rs.53.41 billion (~$0.81 billion) has been made for MNRE, which will be sourced from NCEF, stated Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister for Power, in the Rajya Sabha.

The Government of India has transferred approximately ~Rs.209.42 billion (~$3.20 billion) so far to the NCEF. Of that, ~Rs.117.44 billion (~$1.79 billion) was allocated to the MNRE.

In addition to NCEF support, during the financial years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, Rs.7.87 billion (~$120.5 million) were received as gross budgetary support and the allocation was utilized in full.

During the FY2016-17, Rs.42.72 billion (~$0.65 billion) was provided to MNRE. Of this, an expenditure of ~Rs.32.82 billion (~$0.5 billion) has been incurred as of March 15, 2017.