pv magazine: What sets India apart from other large-scale solar markets globally?
Anand Jain: India receives huge solar insolation, with most parts of the country having over 300 sunny days a year. Further, it has a fast‑growing domestic manufacturing base supported by schemes like PLI, and a coherent policy framework that targets 500 GW non‑fossil power capacity by 2030 with solar at its core. India is scaling rapidly while simultaneously building sophistication through ALMM, PLI, net‑metering reforms, and state‑level incentives that many other markets are still catching up to.
The large domestic market and the rising density of EPCs, installers, and solution providers position India as a leader in solar deployment as well as solar financing innovations.
What is the biggest blind spot in the solar industry today, and why hasn’t MSME adoption scaled faster despite strong economics?
On the grid side, India faces integration bottlenecks, curtailment, and technical limitations in weaker feeders, especially in urban and semi‑urban areas where rooftop solar has the highest potential.
On the cost side, high upfront capital and the complexity of financing remain major hurdles, particularly for MSMEs and households that want to adopt solar but lack easy access to structured loans. For MSMEs, energy is one of the largest operating costs, and captive solar can cut electricity bills by 50–70% while also strengthening balance sheets by reducing exposure to tariff hikes and grid volatility. However, adoption in this segment is slowed by limited availability of structured, long-term financing tailored to MSME cash flows.
The value chain for small-scale solar plants is also fragmented and exposed to quality issues, inconsistent logistics, and trade‑related volatility. When superimposed on geopolitical tensions such as the recent war‑related disruptions these pain points can delay projects by 20–30% and erode project economics.
To overcome this, the sector needs a combination of policy maturity, better grid‑code enforcement, and technology‑driven platforms that standardize equipment, financing, and monitoring so that “solar” becomes a routine, not an exception.
How can the sector overcome financing gaps and supply volatility amid geopolitical tensions?
The sector can bridge financing gaps by expanding embedded, data‑driven financing models tightly linked to generation and savings, and by attracting more institutional capital such as green bonds, INVITs, and climate‑linked funds into distributed solar. Specialized structures like NetZero Finance, an RBI‑approved solar‑focused NBFC, help de‑risk lending and scale MSME and rooftop adoption by aligning repayments with measurable energy savings.
To mitigate supply‑chain volatility, India must deepen its domestic manufacturing base, diversify polysilicon sourcing, and build buffer stocks and logistics resilience. As the industry has increasingly recognized, the future lies in integrated ecosystems where technology, financing, and local manufacturing act as a single layer. In a geopolitically uncertain environment, such vertically‑integrated platforms will be essential to keep India’s solar growth story on track.
How is solar financing evolving to scale rooftop and distributed solar, and what ROI benchmarks are investors targeting?
The financing industry is shifting from generic project‑lending to embedded, tech‑backed models where financing is tightly integrated with installation, monitoring, and operations. NetZero Finance, for example, is designed as a “plug‑and‑play” financier for MSMEs and homeowners, where repayment is directly linked to the energy savings generated by the solar system, effectively turning the rooftop into a self‑repaying asset.
Investors in this space are typically targeting IRRs in the mid‑ to high‑teens for equity and 8–10% for debt, with payback periods of 3–5 years. This is attractive compared with many other infrastructure assets and becomes even more so when data‑driven monitoring platforms show consistent generation and bill savings. In a geopolitical environment where module prices and supply availability can swing unpredictably, this data‑backed financing model builds lender confidence and enables larger ticket sizes and broader geographic coverage.
What policy interventions should the government prioritize to accelerate solar deployment?
The government should consider extending PLI‑style incentives further up the value chain especially into cell and wafer manufacturing to address the current gap in domestic self‑reliance. At the same time, targeted MSME‑focused subsidies, special credit‑guarantee mechanisms, and simplified net‑metering frameworks across states would significantly lower the effective cost of capital for distributed solar.
Expanding subsidy schemes such as PM‑KUSUM to cover a broader range of MSME rooftops, and introducing faster clearances and single‑window approvals, would streamline project execution and reduce timelines. These measures, combined with India’s ambition to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil power capacity by 2030, can create a virtuous cycle of lower-cost capital, higher deployment volumes, and stronger domestic manufacturing.
For India to lead globally by 2030, the policy mix must combine extended manufacturing incentives, clear net‑metering and storage‑linked regulations, MSME‑ and residential‑focused subsidies, and green‑finance incentives that channel institutional capital into distributed solar. The industry, in turn, must move beyond simply deploying panels and inverters toward building a “sophisticated” stack that integrates AI‑driven monitoring, predictive maintenance, and storage‑ready solutions.
Aerem recently secured a $15 million investment from SMBC Asia. What does this signal?
The $15 million (INR 136 crore) Pre‑Series B from SMBC Asia is a vote of confidence in India’s distributed solar ecosystem at a time when global investors are actively rebalancing portfolios away from fragile, single‑country‑sourced supply chains. Distributed solar has become central to India’s energy‑security agenda, and this funding comes at a pivotal moment when geopolitical shocks such as the recent war‑related disruptions in polysilicon and module supplies have exposed the risks of over‑reliance on imported cells and wafers. International capital is increasingly viewing India as a platform that combines scale, policy momentum, and a growing domestic manufacturing base, and Aerem’s integrated platform spanning financing, marketplace, and monitoring fits perfectly into that “energy‑independence‑through‑decentralization” narrative.
What growth strategies is Aerem pursuing post‑funding?
Aerem is targeting 3–4x growth over the next few years by scaling rooftop and distributed solar across C&I and MSME segments, expanding our 5,000+ EPC partner network to over 70 cities, and deepening the integration of our financing and monitoring ecosystems into every step of the project lifecycle. This aligns directly with India’s 500 GW non‑fossil target by 2030, where solar is expected to contribute over 280 GW and needs roughly 46 GW of annual additions.
How do Aerem’s SunStore and NetZero Finance initiatives address gaps in solar retail and financing?
SunStore is more than a marketplace; it is a quality‑assured, tech‑driven platform for rooftop and distributed solar, where equipment is pre‑vetted and aggregated from a network of ALMM‑ and PLI/DCR‑linked suppliers. This directly addresses the “trust deficit” in equipment quality and fragmented logistics that has long held back MSME and residential solar adoption.
NetZero Finance, India’s only RBI‑approved solar‑focused NBFC, plugs the financing gap by offering collateral‑free loans from as low as INR 1,00,000 up to multi‑crore project sizes, with app‑based approvals and quick disbursal. A typical 10 kW C&I rooftop in urban India can generate around 15,000 kWh/year, saving roughly INR 1.2 lakh annually at current grid tariffs, which comfortably covers an EMI of about INR 9,000 per month.
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