India Plans Polysilicon Incentives to End Reliance on China

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is developing a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to stimulate domestic polysilicon manufacturing and eliminate India's total import reliance on China. Secretary Santosh Sarangi announced the plan on August 7, 2026, during a Confederation of Indian Industry event in New Delhi.

The proposed scheme aims to establish more than 10 GW of production capacity for polysilicon, a critical raw material used in semiconductors and solar photovoltaic panels. The government is treating polysilicon as a separate industrial activity due to its chemical refining nature. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to build an integrated solar ecosystem, targeting 80 GW of solar ingot and wafer capacity by June 2028 to support India's goal of 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030.

While India has expanded downstream capacity to over 213 GW of solar module and 32 GW of solar cell manufacturing, polysilicon remains a missing link in the domestic value chain. Separately, the Solar Energy Corporation of India reported a round-the-clock renewable energy tariff of Rs 5.25 per unit, which the ministry suggests could lower average power procurement costs for distribution companies to approximately Rs 4.85 per unit.