Solar firms move High Court over ‘unreasonable’ mandate

9 JUNE 2026

A group of solar manufacturers and developers has approached the Karnataka High Court to defer a rule that, from June 1, 2026, requires most new solar projects to use only domestically made cells.
They cite the gap between what Indian solar-cell makers charge and international prices.
Cells listed under the government’s mandatory ‘ALMM List-II’ sell at around ₹13 a watt, against an imported price of about ₹5 a watt, the petitioners said.
ALMM is the government ratified Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) and a list of domestic producer companies whose solar panels and constituent cells are mandatory for electricity distribution in India.
ALMM-1 is a list of about 130 module manufacturers.
ALMM-2 is a smaller group of about 17 companies that makes the solar cells for these modules.
The petitioners said they do not oppose the list, but want its enforcement deferred, at least a year, until domestic cells are available in adequate quantity and quality, and at a competitive price.
The petitioners also pointed to the Finance Ministry’s classification of the West Asia conflict as a force majeure event, under which the MNRE allowed extensions of contractual deadlines to solar-cell makers; the same consideration, they said, should apply to developers.

Structural gap

The dispute exposes a structural gap at the heart of India’s solar expansion.
Installed solar capacity has crossed 144 GW and is growing about 40% a year, and module-assembly capacity has reached roughly 210 GW.
But upstream cell manufacturing — the step the new rule targets — stood at only about 27 GW at the end of 2025, according to Mercom India, a clean-energy research group.
Ratings agency CareEdge estimates domestic cells meet just 25-30% of demand, leaving India reliant on imports, mainly from China. “Right now the whole capacity (of high efficiency cells) manufactured in India is not enough for our requirement,” Mr. Shivanna said.
“When we ask for cell supply, [many] don’t have stock.”