India’s module manufacturing capacity has expanded at remarkable speed, while domestic content requirements are pushing investment into the more complex cell manufacturing sector. Suppliers are also eyeing moves into wafer and ingot manufacturing ahead of further expansion to the domestic content rules. Activity has been more limited in polysilicon manufacturing, as with the development of facilities to produce solar glass and other bill of materials components. The challenge is no longer how much manufacturing capacity India can build, it’s whether that capacity can operate at high utilization, keep pace with fast-changing technologies and compete on cost.

“The next phase of expansion needs to be more closely aligned with actual demand, project pipelines and the development of the wider solar value chain,” said Bondada Raghavendra Rao, chairman and managing director at engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) supplier Bondada Group.

The scale of the imbalance is becoming increasingly visible. India had built around 233 GW of module manufacturing capacity as of June 2026, against annual domestic demand estimated at 30 GW to 40 GW. Utilization for many of these production lines is running at only 35% to 40%, compared with the 50% to 65% generally considered necessary for sustainable operations. A further 135 GW is planned or under construction.

According to Dilip Mehta, director, technical services at project developer Hexa Climate, the issue is not module capacity alone, but its relationship with the rest of the supply chain. He noted that module capacity is currently roughly seven times cell capacity and 116 times ingot and wafer capacity.

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