NITI Aayog said India's photovoltaic (PV) module and cell manufacturing capacity has grown significantly in recent years, yet the industry faces a shortage of upstream manufacturing capacity and remains dependent on imports for key components. The think tank highlighted the need to expand capacity across the value chain from polysilicon to cells. It underlined that strengthening upstream stages is necessary to secure supply and reduce input costs. The report noted that the domestic photovoltaic manufacturing industry remains largely concentrated in the solar cell and module segments, with total module manufacturing capacity listed under the approved list of models and manufacturers rising sharply to 100 gigawatt (GW) in August 2025 from two point three GW in 2014. Despite this growth, India continues to import solar cells and modules while wafer and polysilicon imports are constrained by limited wafer manufacturing and relatively low cell production capacity. The imbalance has left the country exposed to external supply dynamics. The authors recorded that China accounted for nearly 59 per cent of India’s photovoltaic cell and module imports in 2024 and held over 80 per cent of global supply capacity as of December 2024, reflecting its dominant manufacturing presence. During FY2015 and FY2025 India added 103 GW of solar capacity, implying a conservative minimum solar module demand of 103 GW. Installations pushed the country’s solar energy base to 106 GW in March 2025. The report said the country is expected to add 174 GW to achieve the target of 280 GW by 2030, which will increase the imperative to manufacture more components domestically. It warned that China’s capacity consolidation and potential United States restrictions on foreign entities of concern could tighten global polysilicon supply and push up prices, raising input costs for Indian module makers until backward integration is achieved. The document stated that current oversupply and timely government intervention have supported Indian manufacturers and that market conditions favour integrated value chain players. It concluded that expanding from the polysilicon to the cell manufacturing stage will be critical for long term resilience.