Let there be light: These five stocks are poised to benefit from India’s $1 billion solar push

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India is ramping up its efforts to break China's dominance in the solar supply chain with a $1 billion capital subsidy plan that’s aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing of wafers and ingots—critical components in solar panel production. While the country has made significant progress in solar module and cell manufacturing, wafer and ingot production remains a weak link, with only 2gigawatts (GW)of capacity compared to 71 GW in modules and 11 GW in cells.

The government's push mirrors its successful mobile phone manufacturing strategy, which attracted global giants such as Apple and Samsung with lucrative incentives. A similar approach in the solar sector could cut reliance on imports, lower production costs, and create a competitive domestic supply chain. However, India still lacks polysilicon production, a key input for wafers and ingots, making some dependence on foreign suppliers inevitable in the near term.

With this policy shift, several Indian solar companies are well-positioned to capitalise on government support, including these five. Adani Enterprises is aggressively scaling up its solar and renewable energy business, maintaining its sales run rate of 1 GW of modules per quarter. The company remains on track to expand solar manufacturing capacity to 10 GW by 2028, with current operational capacity at 4.5 GW annually.

A key differentiator for Adani is its integrated solar manufacturing approach, making it one of the very few companies in India that produces wafers and ingots. In May 2024, Adani Solar began commercial production of wafers and ingots at its Gujarat facility, strengthening India's solar supply chain. Also read | Betting on the future: Five high-growth stocks