Press Release
oi-Oneindia Staff
PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is emerging as more than a household electricity-saving programme. Its rapid expansion is creating a nationwide ecosystem of skilled workers, local entrepreneurs, solar vendors and domestic manufacturers, connecting India’s clean-energy transition with employment and economic opportunity.
Beyond electricity savings, the PM Surya Ghar scheme has deployed 18 GW rooftop solar, benefiting 60 lakh+ households, creating ~17 lakh jobs, training >2.5 lakh people via institutions like NISE, and supporting over 37,000 vendors nationwide.
India’s installed solar capacity has reached 168 GW from 3 GW in 2014, while PM Surya Ghar alone has commissioned around 18 GW of rooftop solar capacity and benefited more than 60 lakh households.
The scheme is expected to create around 17 lakh jobs across manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, sales, installation, operations and maintenance, financial services and related activities.
From Solar Targets to Skilled Jobs: Over 2.5 Lakh People Trained
Building a skilled workforce has become a critical part of the rooftop solar expansion. More than 2.5 lakh people have already been trained under capacity-building programmes supporting the rooftop solar value chain.
The wider skilling programme envisages building a pool of around 3 lakh skilled personnel, including 1 lakh Solar PV Technicians, creating employment pathways for electricians, technicians, installers and other workers required by the rapidly expanding rooftop solar market.
Training and capacity-building initiatives are being undertaken through institutions and organisations including NISE, NPTI, the Skill Council for Green Jobs and other technical and skilling partners.
Grassroots Entrepreneurship: Vendor Network Expands to Over 37,000
One of the most visible employment multipliers under PM Surya Ghar has been the rapid development of a decentralised vendor ecosystem.
Today, more than 37 thousand vendors are registered under the scheme, creating a nationwide network of businesses involved in rooftop solar sales, installation and servicing.
The expansion of this ecosystem is opening opportunities particularly for local MSMEs, technicians, electricians and first-generation solar entrepreneurs, enabling rooftop solar businesses to emerge closer to consumers in cities, towns and districts across the country.
Entrepreneurship-development and technical-training programmes are also helping prospective and existing vendors strengthen their capabilities in business management, technical installation, quality standards and customer servicing.
Rooftop Solar Demand Adds Momentum to Domestic Manufacturing
The scale of PM Surya Ghar with a target of rooftop solar installations across one crore households is also creating sustained domestic demand for solar modules, cells, inverters, mounting structures, cables and other balance-of-system components.
