Parliament’s Standing Committee on Energy has said it will be a challenge for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to meet the financial year (FY) 2025-26 target of installing 3.5 million rooftop solar systems under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

Expressing concern over the low installation numbers during the year so far, the committee said in a report that only 905,000 households have benefitted from the program, and 600,000 households have received subsidies.

The target for FY 2025-26 is four times more than what has been achieved so far. “The Committee is of the view that, given the current pace of installations, achieving the target of 2025-26 will be challenging for the Ministry,” it said.

As of February 25, 2025, around 17.2 million registrations and 4.56 million applications have been submitted on the national portal for rooftop solar.

The committee also recommended that the Ministry create awareness about the PM Surya Ghar program in the states’ local languages to increase adoption. It also wanted the ministry to ensure that the operation and maintenance clause is complied with strictly.

The ministry said projects under Phase I of the Green Energy Corridor were delayed due to right-of-way issues.  Phase III of the corridor will be rolled out by FY 2026.

The committee observed that the Ministry has been underutilizing the funds since 2020. Only 82% and 83% of the overall budget was utilized in FY 2023 and 2024, respectively. As of February 2, 2025, 68% of the allocated budget for the current financial year.

Since FY 2021, MNRE has surrendered ₹76.56 billion (~$880.45 million) of the allocated budget due to non-utilization.

MNRE told the committee that it had exempted the state’s share of the subsidy under PM KUSUM. It had included the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund in Component A of the program, allowing farmers to avail of loans at 6% interest.

Recently, the Union Budget saw revisions in estimates for various energy programs. The allocation for the total solar sector has gone up from ₹150.61 billion (~$1.73 billion) to ₹242.24 billion (~$2.79 billion). The National Green Hydrogen Mission’s funding was raised from ₹3 billion (~$34.6 million) to ₹6 billion (~$69.24 million).