India achieves third place globally in renewable energy installed capacity: Pralhad Joshi

New Delhi: Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said that India has achieved third place globally in renewable energy installed capacity, surpassing Brazil.

According to the latest data released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), India’s domestic renewable energy capacity stood at 250.52 GW as of December 2025. This places the country behind only China and the United States, while moving ahead of Brazil and Germany in the global rankings.

India added a record 55.3 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity during 2025-26, which is the highest-ever annual increase, compared to 29.5 GW added in 2024-25, Joshi told media people.

India's total power generation during 2025-26 (up to March 2026) reached 1,845.921 BU (Billion Units). The share of non-fossil fuels in total generation reached 29.2 per cent in 2025-26 (538.97 BU).

India achieved the milestone of 50 per cent of its cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources in June 2025, five years ahead of the 2030 target set under its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi' s announcement at COP26, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is working towards achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030, he said.

He also highlighted that India’s total non-fossil fuel-based installed capacity reached 283.46 GW as of March 31, 2026, including 274.68 GW from renewable sources and 8.78 GW from nuclear energy.

In addition, solar energy has seen the sharpest growth, with installed capacity increasing more than 50-fold from 2.82 GW in 2014 to 150.26 GW in March 2026, while wind energy capacity rose to 56.09 GW from 21.04 GW during the same period.

During 2025-26, solar capacity addition touched a record 44.61 GW, driven by both utility-scale and distributed installations, including rooftop solar and PM KUSUM projects. Under the PM KUSUM scheme, the number of pumps installed/solarised in FY 2025–26 reached 13.94 lakh pumps.