New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to build a diversified plan spanning every clean energy sector, flagging that the overwhelming bulk of the ministry's budget flows to solar power alone. "The Committee, therefore, expects the Ministry to formulate a comprehensive and diversified roadmap to ensure a holistic and sustainable growth of all the renewable energy sectors in the country," the Standing Committee on Energy said in its 13th report, presented to the Lok Sabha and laid in the Rajya Sabha on August 6.
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The committee, chaired by Shrirang Appa Barne, observed that "about 92.8 percent of the budget of the Ministry has been allocated for only one component i.e. Solar Energy," and that within the solar head, about 72 percent goes to a single scheme, the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. It said there was "substantial scope for expanding the renewable energy portfolio through greater emphasis on region specific renewable energy harnessing of other promising sectors such as wind energy, bioenergy, small hydro projects (SHP), tidal energy, geothermal energy, offshore renewable energy and hybrid renewable systems."
The report also noted that the ministry had projected a budgetary requirement of Rs 45,806.61 crore for 2026-27, against which Rs 32,914.67 crore was allocated, a reduction of about 28 percent against the demand.
The panel's push to broaden the portfolio was underscored by its findings on wind energy. It noted that "against the potential of 1,164 GW of wind energy in the country, the installed capacity is only around 54.65 GW" as on January 31.
The committee recorded the ministry's submission that onshore wind projects are set up by private developers on techno-economic viability, with no scheme currently in place for onshore wind and hence "no linkage between capacity commissioned and budgetary allocation." Budgetary funds are used to meet liabilities under the Wind Generation Based Incentive (GBI) scheme, which was operational till March 2017. The ministry said it continues to provide fiscal and technical support to the sector, including accelerated depreciation, concessional customs duty on certain components and technical assistance from the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE).
On offshore wind, the ministry said it has launched a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme with a total outlay of Rs 7,453 crore, including Rs 6,853 crore for installation and commissioning of 1 GW of offshore capacity — 500 MW each off the Gujarat and Tamil Nadu coasts — and Rs 600 crore to upgrade two ports. The committee noted that the first tender, for a 500 MW project off Gujarat issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on September 13, 2024, drew no bid by its last date of July 31, 2025. The ministry said it plans to issue a Tamil Nadu offshore tender during 2026-27.
Observing that "Offshore wind technology is new for the country due to which bidders are being extra cautious about its future and returns," the committee said the ministry and NIWE need to engage regularly with developers and collaborate with global offshore wind players. The ministry, in reply, cited a round table chaired by the MNRE Secretary on September 26, 2025, and the launch of the India–UK Offshore Wind Taskforce on February 18, 2026, in the presence of UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi, with its first meeting held on March 9.
The concentration of spending sat against a longer record of under-utilisation. The committee noted that average utilisation over the past five years, from 2021-22 to 2025-26, "has been in the range of 82-83 percent," meaning "every year the budget remains unspent which has to be surrendered by the Ministry." The ministry countered that during 2025-26, against a Revised Estimates allocation of Rs 25,301.22 crore, expenditure of Rs 23,752.82 crore, or about 94 percent, had been incurred.
The panel had drawn particular attention to the North-Eastern Region (NER), where allocated funds have gone under-used for years. The ministry said NER expenditure had risen to 29.32 percent, or Rs 734.24 crore, in 2025-26, from 3 to 5 percent in the previous three years. The committee said this "reflects the sincere efforts of the Ministry towards harnessing renewable energy in the North East States," but held that "the pace of physical achievements under renewable energy schemes, particularly with regard to PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, PM KUSUM- Component A and Component C and Biogas Programme (Phase-I) indicates the need for further focused interventions of the Ministry in the North Eastern Region." Against 5,58,244 rooftop solar applications in the region, 1,12,864 had been installed as on March 31; under PM KUSUM Component A, nothing had been installed against 7 MW sanctioned.
The committee's scrutiny of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (PMSGMBY), the single largest scheme in the ministry's budget, pointed to both under-spending and missed physical targets. It noted around 23.29 lakh installations against a target of 61 lakh in the two years since the scheme became operational, and utilisation of Rs 22,402.97 crore out of a revised allocation of Rs 28,100 crore, or 80 percent. The scheme aims to install rooftop solar in one crore households by 2026-27.
Even on the ministry's own projections — around 30 lakh installations by March 2027 and another 30 lakh under the Utility-Led Aggregation (ULA) model — the committee said "the installation falls short of the target of 1 crore by around 17 lakh." The ministry maintained that "the target of benefiting one crore households with rooftop solar installations under the PMSG: MBY by 2026-27 is on track," citing 12.58 lakh installations sanctioned under the ULA model across 10 states and union territories against about 28 lakh requested.
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Running through the committee's assessment was the resistance of power distribution companies. It described "the issue of unwilling participation by DISCOMs, owing to the revenue losses on account of consumers shifting from conventional power consumption to solar installations," and cited the case of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), where approvals were "reportedly restricted based on the average electricity consumption of the last 12 months," a restriction the ministry said it had taken up with the state and was working to roll back. The panel said the scheme "would achieve its anticipated outcome only when the DISCOMS and other State Nodal Agencies are fully on board," and urged the ministry to make concerted efforts in that direction.