The government has begun talks with industry stakeholders to introduce a domestic content requirement (DCR), one of the two people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. “The specific percentage of DCR and the components have not been finalized, but it should be high as indigenization of wind turbines and few other components is already strong, and several components are already manufactured here,” the person added.
According to the second person, the local content may be well above 30% of the components used in a project.
As in many other sectors, the move aims to encourage local manufacturing and reduce dependence on China. India’s productivity-linked incentive plans have similar requirements too. The move comes as the Centre plans to support wind power components like turbines under the National Manufacturing Mission announced in the Union budget for FY26.
Though wind turbines are locally made, many of their components come from China and Europe. The government is now looking to build their supply chain and ecosystem within the country itself.
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Queries sent to the Union ministry of new and renewable energy remained unanswered.
India, which had a wind capacity of 48.16 GW at the end of December 2024, aims to expand it to 140 GW by 2030, the year when it aims to achieve clean power capacity of 500 GW.
The ministry claims India already has the latest technologies to manufacture wind turbines, and around 70-80% indigenization has been achieved. Its website says that all major global wind players are present in India, with around 14 different companies operating through joint ventures under licensed production, subsidiaries of foreign companies, and Indian companies with their own technology. The current annual production capacity of domestic wind turbines is about 18 GW.
“The Indian wind energy sector has been largely self-sufficient and significantly indigenous over the last decade,” said Narayan Kumar, CEO of Kshema Power & Infrastructure Co. Pvt. Ltd, a green EPC services provider. “There are a few components like castings where we lack scale, raw materials used in permanent magnets and sub-components used in blades and nacelles which are not produced in India. Raw materials for permanent magnets and castings need to be sourced from China as it is the most cost effective source for these products,” Kumar said.
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Cost of indigenization
Kumar, however, noted that higher indigenization may raise costs. “Although these components need to be imported, it also needs to be seen that mandatory domestic sourcing of some products may lead to higher cost. In some instances, imports may be more viable than producing components across the ecosystem in the country. India is already a major producer of several components including generators and gearboxes. We even export full WTGs (wind turbine generators) including nacelles, hubs and blades,” he added.
The Centre already has a mechanism wherein only selected and verified turbines and manufacturers are allowed for government-backed projects. The Revised List of Models & Manufacturers (RLMM) is a list of type and quality certified wind turbine models eligible for installation. Meanwhile, concessional duty on some of the critical components in wind turbine generators ends on 31 March. The benefit is allowed for wind turbine generators and models included in the RLMM list.
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The government is also focusing on developing a supply chain within the country for solar and wind capacities along with battery storage and green hydrogen.
In a recent interview with Mint, Girish Tanti, vice-chairman of Suzlon Energy Ltd said India has the potential to become a manufacturing hub of wind power components like turbines, and policy initiatives would help unlock that potential. Tanti said that the National Manufacturing Mission and the focus on clean tech manufacturing are expected to bring the sector the required support.
In her budget speech on 1 February, finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman said the manufacturing mission will cover small, medium and large industries to further ‘Make in India’ by providing policy support, execution roadmaps, governance and monitoring framework for central ministries and states, which would have special focus on clean tech manufacturing.
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“Given our commitment to climate-friendly development, the Mission will also support clean tech manufacturing. This will aim to improve domestic value addition and build our ecosystem for solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors and controllers, electrolyzers, wind turbines, very high voltage transmission equipment and grid-scale batteries,” she had said.
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