Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2024, with a budget outlay of ₹75,021 crore, the initiative aims to provide free electricity to households by facilitating the installation of rooftop solar panels.
The Union Budget 2025 on Saturday (February 1) has increased the allocation for PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (SGMBY) scheme to ₹20,000 crore, a sharp rise from the ₹11,100 crore in the FY25 Revised Estimates (RE) and ₹6,250 crore in the FY25 Budget Estimates (BE).
Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2024, with a budget outlay of ₹75,021 crore, the initiative aims to provide free electricity to households by facilitating the installation of rooftop solar panels.
Under the scheme, discoms are designated as state implementation agencies (SIAs) responsible for facilitating various measures, including net meter availability, timely inspection, and commissioning of installations.
One crore beneficiaries of the new scheme are slated to be able to get 300 units of free power through rooftop solar installations, resulting in an annual saving of ₹15,000 to ₹1,80,000 per year. The aim of this new rooftop solar scheme was to accelerate India’s transition to renewable energy.
This is the second scheme to promote the installation of solar panels on rooftops. It is a new and improved version of a ₹11,800 crore rooftop solar scheme launched in 2014 which aimed for 40 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy by 2022. This deadline was extended to 2026, but as of November 2023, only 10.4 GW Gigawatt capacity had been achieved.