India added around 14.2GW of solar energy capacity in the first quarter of 2026, a roughly 95% increase from the previous quarter, according to Indian research firm JMK Research.
Between January and the end of March, India added 12.12GW of utility-scale and 2.14GW of rooftop solar PV capacity, according to JMK’s quarterly data. This total (of 14.26GW) is slightly below other estimates of quarterly additions, which put the figure at 14.4GW.
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In the financial year (FY) to the end of March, JMK said India’s total solar additions rose 87.16% from 23.84GW in FY2025 to 44.62GW in FY2026. Utility-scale solar was the “key driver” of growth, more than doubling from 16.90GW to 34.85GW over the year.
Rooftop additions also grew, from 5.15GW to 8.71GW, largely driven by the government’s PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana scheme, which aims to expand residential and rooftop solar PV across India. Off-grid solar deployments declined slightly, from 1.79GW to 1.06GW.
National and state government tenders are a major driver of India’s renewable energy expansion. In Q1, JMK said there were nine tenders allocated with a combined capacity of 6.3GW across solar, wind, wind-solar hybrid and “RE+ storage”, a 37% increase over Q4 2025 and a 9% decline from Q1 2025.
Solar accounts for 55% of India’s renewable energy mix as of April 2026, followed by wind at 20% and large hydro at 19%. As of 31 March, there was 275GW of total renewable energy capacity in India, 150.26GW of which was solar PV. JMK estimated the current pipeline of solar, wind, hybrid, and storage at around 169GW, which it expects online in the next four to five years.
Modules, inverters, developers and manufacturing
The Adani Group—owned by billionaire Gautam Adani—is by far the largest developer across all Indian renewables, JMK said, with a portfolio of operational and pipeline projects of around 42.4GW. ReNew (21.2GW), JSW Energy (16.8GW), Avaada (16.5GW) and NTPC Limited (16.1GW) are the next four largest developers as of 31 March.
Waaree was the single largest module supplier to the Indian market with a 17.2% market share in Q1 2026, JMK said. The top 23 players shipped 20.3GW of solar modules.
The presence of Waaree at the top of the Indian solar module market is a reflection of the government’s massive push to develop domestic solar manufacturing capacity and reduce its structural reliance on Chinese imports. The combination of production incentives and restrictions on market access has led to a “robust” expansion of module manufacturing capacity, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
JMK said that during Q1, 13 solar manufacturers added a collective 14.4GW of module capacity and four players added 4.2GW of cell production capacity.
By contrast, Chinese companies are still the leading inverter suppliers to the Indian market. Of the 27.5GW of inverter shipments recorded in Q1 2026, Chinese producer Sungrow supplied over 10GW, JMK data said, with the rest of the capacity split between 18 other suppliers.
Despite the growth in deployments and manufacturing capacity, JMK said that India’s renewable energy sector attracted around US$2.1 billion of investment in Q1 2026, a decline of 58% from Q4 2025 and 65% from Q1 2025.
