Solar

Solar splits at one question: who buys the power.

Under PM KUSUM the buyer is a DISCOM, at a feed-in tariff the SERC sets. In commercial and industrial solar the buyer is a company, at a price the two parties negotiate. That one difference changes the credit assessment, the security package, the tenor and the lender set — which is why these are two pages rather than one.

Two dated rules cut across both markets in 2026, and each is handled on the page it belongs to: PM KUSUM’s extended deadlines, which bind by component and by the date on the PPA; and ALMM List-II, which has bound cell sourcing for open access and net-metering projects since 1 June 2026.

30 Sep 2026

PM KUSUM: financial closure for feeder-level solarisation under Components A and C, where the PPA or NTP is dated on or before 31 December 2025

1 Jun 2026

ALMM List-II live: open access and net-metering solar commissioned since this date needs List-I modules built with List-II cells

MNRE, PM KUSUM scheme portal — office memorandum of 28 March 2026, as reported by Saur Energy; MNRE order No. 283/64/2025-GRID SOLAR on ALMM List-II.

PM KUSUM financial closure · 30 September 2026

Check which deadline binds you

PM KUSUM

The DISCOM buys the power, at a tariff the SERC sets.

You are here if you are developing against a DISCOM PPA — Component A at 500 kW to 2 MW, or Component C feeder-level solarisation.

Offtaker: A state distribution utility, under a PPA that runs to 25 years in RESCO mode.
Credit question: Whether the DISCOM pays on time. The tariff is set by the SERC, so the revenue line is not in dispute — the payment record is.
Security: Project assets, assignment of PPA receivables and a debt service reserve, with sponsor support that typically falls away at commissioning.
Tenor: Read off the PPA term, which is what makes a long tenor arguable at all.
Lenders: PSU banks, IREDA and a small set of NBFCs. They already hold an appraisal template for the scheme, which matters more than it sounds.
The clock: Nine months from PPA signing to commissioning under RESCO. The debt has to be appraised, sanctioned and drawn inside it.

PM KUSUM

Commercial and industrial

A company buys the power, at a price the two of you negotiate.

You are here if a company is buying the power, at a price the two of you agreed rather than one a regulator set.

Offtaker: A company, under a corporate PPA — rooftop or open access, captive or group captive.
Credit question: The offtaker's own credit, and whether it will still be consuming at the end of the tenor. No regulated tariff sits behind the revenue.
Security: Project assets and the PPA, plus what the offtaker's standing will not carry on its own — a payment security mechanism, and a route to a replacement offtaker.
Tenor: Shaped by a corporate PPA that is usually shorter than the asset's life. Closing that gap is the structuring problem on every deal.
Lenders: NBFCs and private banks are the active set; PSU banks appear where the offtaker is investment grade. Balance-sheet lending to the developer is often the real competition for project debt.
The variables: Open access charges and banking provisions are set state by state, and a change to either moves a project from viable to not.

Commercial and industrial

If you are not sure which one you are in

Look at who signs the PPA. A distribution utility puts you in the first; a company puts you in the second. Almost everything a lender asks after that follows from the answer, which is why these are two pages and not one page with a table of exceptions.

Questions we answer in the first conversation

This page routes. The three questions below decide where, and the answers are usually a sentence each.

Who signs the PPA — and if it is a DISCOM, which 30 September binds this file?
If the buyer is a company, what does this state charge to move the power, and does it let you bank it?
Which ALMM position and which ISTS step does the commissioning date land on?

Tell us who signs the PPA