Union Budget 2024-25 – Quote on Energy sector from Ankit Hakhu, Director, CRISIL Ratings

“The government’s focus on clean energy transition continues. PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is one such scheme which was launched earlier during the year with a target to solarise rooftops of 1 cr households with budget outlay of Rs 75000 crore. The scheme has already seen healthy traction, with over 1.28 crore registrations and 14 lakh applications. The government also announced its intention to bring out a policy on pumped storage, supporting a sustainable transition which addresses the issue of intermittency in renewables generation. Additionally, expanding the list of exempted capital goods in manufacturing solar cells and modules will bring down the cost of domestic production and accelerate energy transition. Although nascent, steps towards exploration of public-private partnership in nuclear energy, especially development of small modular nuclear reactors, can help scale up nuclear energy capacity in the country as well, further supporting the sustainability push in the energy segment.”