Introduction
India’s solar energy programme has, over the past decade, undergone a transformation in both scale and ambition. Installed solar capacity crossed 132 gigawatts in November 2025, up from 2.82 gigawatts in 2014, representing a fifty-three-fold increase within a single decade. The government crossed its target of 50 per cent non-fossil fuel installed capacity five years ahead of schedule, and on 29 July 2025, renewable energy sources collectively met 51.5 per cent of India’s total electricity demand in a single day. Research by the climate analytics organisation Ember has further found that, measured against comparable income levels, India is deploying solar electricity at a faster pace than China did during the equivalent period of its own development. China subsequently went on to capture over 63 per cent of global solar panel production and to drive solar module costs down by over 90 per cent, making it the dominant force in global solar manufacturing. This comparison is relevant not merely as a benchmark of ambition but as an entry point into a structural question: whether India’s current solar trajectory is building durable industrial and supply chain foundations, or whether it rests on a dependency that could constrain the transition itself.
