Over 50 lakh households benefit from PM Surya Ghar rooftop solar scheme
New Delhi, Aug 4
The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana -- the world's largest domestic rooftop solar programme -- has crossed the milestone of benefiting more than 50.06 lakh households across the country, the government said on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the achievement comes just over two years after the launch of the scheme and marks a sharp acceleration compared with the 7.94 lakh rooftop solar installations recorded during the previous decade.
The scheme has an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore and is emerging as one of the fastest-growing clean energy initiatives globally.
It is now benefiting around one lakh households every six days, the government said.
In addition, the pace of installations has increased more than three-fold over the last nine months, rising from 5,038 installations per day in October 2025 to nearly 16,328 installations per day in July 2026.
July 2026 alone witnessed a record 5.06 lakh households benefiting under the scheme, the highest monthly figure since its launch.
To support the expansion, the government has released Rs 28,024 crore in subsidies directly to beneficiaries through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism.
As a result, nearly 19 lakh households are now receiving zero electricity bills, while more than 12 lakh households earned a combined Rs 421 crore through the sale of surplus power during FY25 and generated an average additional income of around Rs 3,500 annually per household.
Around 1.6 lakh installations have been completed for PMAY, BPL and SC/ST households across four states, with the model approved for rollout in 12 states, according to the government.
It further highlighted that the programme has also generated employment and business opportunities across the solar value chain.
Additionally, 34,219 vendors have been registered under the scheme, of which 29,469 are currently active and more than 2.32 lakh people have been trained under various capacity-building initiatives.
Cumulatively, 14.8 GW of rooftop solar capacity has been commissioned under the scheme so far.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Impressive numbers, but I wonder about the maintenance aspect. Solar panels need regular cleaning and upkeep, especially in dusty areas. Are there enough trained technicians in smaller towns? The training of 2.32 lakh people is good, but we need to ensure they're distributed evenly across the country.
My neighbour in Bengaluru is earning around Rs 3,500-4,000 every year by selling surplus power back to the grid. For a middle-class family, that's a nice bonus! And knowing we're contributing to clean energy is a wonderful feeling. The government should promote this more in urban areas where the uptake is still low.
The pace of installations is impressive - from 5,000 to 16,000 per day in just nine months is massive. This could really help India meet its climate goals. I just hope the grid infrastructure can handle the additional distributed generation capacity. Has the government addressed issues related to net metering and grid stability?
The scheme is good, but the vendor experience could be better. I applied in April and it took three months for installation. The vendor kept asking for extra 'documentation fees' which I refused to pay. Not everyone will be as persistent. There should be stricter monitoring of vendor behaviour. Otherwise, the DBT subsidy is a great feature. 💡
As someone who installed rooftop solar back in 2018, the difference in process speed now versus then is night and day. In those days we had to run around the electricity department for months. Now with this scheme, my relatives in UP got it done within weeks. The improvement in governance is real, even if we still have a long way to go
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