Draft:PM KUSUM

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) is a solar-energy scheme administered by India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) that subsidizes farmers to install solar irrigation pumps and small solar power plants on agricultural land. The scheme was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 19 February 2019, with administrative approval issued on 8 March 2019 and detailed guidelines framed in July 2019. Its stated objectives are to provide energy and water security to farmers, increase their income, reduce diesel use in agriculture, and lower environmental pollution. India has since begun promoting PM-KUSUM, alongside its rooftop-solar programme PM Surya Ghar, as a model for replication in Africa and small island states through the International Solar Alliance.

Background

PM-KUSUM was launched to promote decentralized solar power generation and reduce the agriculture sector's reliance on diesel and subsidized grid electricity, while giving farmers an additional income stream by allowing them to sell surplus solar power to the grid. As part of India's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, the government has linked the scheme to its broader commitment to raise the share of non-fossil-fuel electricity generation capacity to 40 percent by 2030.

Components

The scheme has three components:

• Component A — installation of decentralized, ground- or stilt-mounted, grid-connected solar or other renewable power plants of up to 2 MW capacity each, with a combined target of 10,000 MW. Plants can be installed by individual farmers or through groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, Farmer Producer Organisations, or Water User Associations, either directly or via a developer, on land that need not be under cultivation. Power generated is purchased by state electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) at a pre-fixed tariff.
• Component B — installation of standalone solar-powered agricultural pumps, replacing diesel pumps in areas without reliable grid access.
• Component C — solarization of existing grid-connected agricultural pumps, including individual pump sets (IPS) and feeder-level solarization (FLS), which converts an entire agricultural electricity feeder to solar power rather than solarizing pumps one at a time.

States are permitted to transfer allocated quantities between Components B and C to match local demand.

Targets and funding

The scheme's capacity and funding targets, and the underlying components, have been revised several times since 2019:

• 2019 (initial approval): a combined target of 25,750 MW of solar capacity, comprising 10,000 MW under Component A, 20 lakh standalone pumps under Component B, and 15 lakh pump solarizations under Component C, backed by total central financial assistance of ₹34,422 crore.
• 2020–21 Union Budget: the scheme's scope was expanded, raising the overall capacity target to 30.8 GW and adding feeder-level solarization as a new variant of Component C.
• 6 September 2023: an office memorandum from the Department of Expenditure raised the combined Component B and C target from 35 lakh to 49 lakh pumps.
• 11 September 2023: a waiver of domestic content requirement (DCR) norms for Component C equipment, first granted earlier, was extended to 31 March 2024.
• September 2023: the Ministry of Finance approved an extension of the scheme's completion deadline to March 2026, following a third-party evaluation of the scheme's progress.
• 20 November 2023: an office memorandum removed the requirement for a mandatory state government funding share, allowing Components B and individual pump solarization under Component C to proceed without it; the central financial assistance share of 30 percent (with the balance covered by the farmer) was retained.
• January 2024: the scheme was scaled up to its current targets — 10,000 MW under Component A, 14 lakh pumps under Component B, and 35 lakh pump solarizations under Component C, for a combined capacity target of 34,800 MW by March 2026, with total central financial assistance held at ₹34,422 crore.

Under Components B and C, the central government provides financial assistance of 30 percent of project cost (50 percent in northeastern, hilly, and island states), with the remaining cost typically covered by state subsidy, bank finance, and farmer contribution. The government has projected that the scheme could generate the equivalent of 7.55 lakh job-years of employment and reduce annual diesel consumption by 1.38 billion litres. The government has described PM-KUSUM as one of the largest initiatives of its kind in the world, aiming to benefit more than 35 lakh farmers.

Implementation progress

Official reporting shows the number of farmers benefiting from the scheme growing substantially over 2024–2026: as of 30 June 2024, more than 4.11 lakh farmers had benefited nationally, according to the Ministry of State for New and Renewable Energy; by 24 March 2026, the government stated that more than 21.77 lakh farmers had benefited.

As of 30 April 2026, per-component progress against sanctioned targets stood at: 1,202.28 MW installed under Component A against a sanctioned 10,000 MW; 10,90,815 standalone pumps installed under Component B against a sanctioned 13,07,190; 15,183 individual pump sets solarized under Component C against a sanctioned 55,392; and 15,71,826 feeder-level solarization installations completed against a sanctioned 35,36,602. Component B has historically seen the most widespread implementation, with Haryana and Rajasthan among the leading states, while a 2026 analysis found Component C feeder-level solarization at 45.7 percent of its sanctioned target, with Maharashtra fully meeting its allocation. A separate 2026 report estimated that installations under Components A and C-FLS had created more than 32,000 jobs, with farmers earning an estimated 11–16 percent annual return by selling electricity generated on leased or owned land, and land leased for Component A projects generating roughly ₹30,000 per acre per year.

An independent field study by the Centre for Science and Environment, covering Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, found that only about 30 percent of the scheme's overall targets had been achieved as of 2024.

Criticism and implementation challenges

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy, in its 2024–25 Demand for Grants report on the ministry, found that scheme targets could not be met on the original timeline and attributed slow progress to a lack of financing available to farmers under Component A, delays in the tendering process and limited state-level interest under Component B, and low farmer interest in individual pump solarization under Component C. The CSE study similarly found that centralized implementation had sidelined local agencies with field-level expertise. Analysts and trade press have also cited land availability near substations, procedural delays in land conversion and power purchase agreements, domestic content requirement norms affecting equipment sourcing, low farmer awareness, and delayed payments from financially weak DISCOMs as ongoing obstacles, particularly to Components A and C. One policy analysis has also noted that, because Component B and C pumps are generally aimed at farmers using pumps of 3 horsepower or greater, the scheme has been of limited relevance to India's small and marginal farmers, who make up around 85 percent of the farming population.

Extension and PM-KUSUM 2.0

Beyond the September 2023 extension to March 2026, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy further extended the completion deadline to 31 March 2027 for projects with power purchase agreements or notices to proceed issued by 31 December 2025. Punjab's state nodal agency has stated that PM-KUSUM's first phase formally closed on 31 December 2025, with future allocations for the state pending the launch of a successor phase.

Ahead of the Union Budget for 2026–27, officials indicated that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had submitted a proposal to the finance ministry for a successor phase, PM-KUSUM 2.0, expected to place greater emphasis on decentralized solar deployment, higher farmer incentives, and expanded private-sector participation, with battery storage also under consideration. On 10 March 2026, at the 4th National Agro-RE Summit in New Delhi, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi confirmed the new phase and announced that it would include a dedicated 10 GW agrivoltaics (Agri-PV) component, allowing co-location of solar panels with crop cultivation on the same land. The Union Budget for 2026–27, presented on 1 February 2026, raised the scheme's annual allocation from approximately ₹2,600 crore to about ₹5,000 crore, an increase of roughly 92 percent, and officials have indicated a total outlay near ₹50,000 crore for the new phase, an increase of about 45 percent over the first phase's ₹34,422 crore. As of mid-2026, MNRE had not yet issued formal notification of PM-KUSUM 2.0's detailed guidelines, per-megawatt benchmark costs, subsidy structure, or state-wise targets, though the proposal had received Expenditure Finance Committee approval; officials have indicated that financial commitments already approved for ongoing Phase 1 projects will continue.

International interest

In October 2025, at the curtain-raiser event for the eighth General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in New Delhi, Indian officials and ISA director general Ashish Khanna announced plans to promote PM-KUSUM, together with India's rooftop-solar programme PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, as a replicable model for solar-powered irrigation and rural electrification in Africa and small island developing states. Khanna noted that only about 4 percent of arable land in Africa is irrigated, compared with roughly 60 percent elsewhere, and that the continent imports an estimated $400 billion of food annually despite having extensive arable land. As part of the initiative, the ISA is establishing an Africa Solar Facility in Ahmedabad intended to provide risk guarantees to private investors in distributed renewable energy projects, aiming to mobilize $200 million directly and leverage 10 to 20 times that amount in private capital.

See also

• Renewable energy in India
• Solar power in India
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
• Agrivoltaics
• International Solar Alliance
• PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

External links

• Official website