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India’s DCR Module Output Nears 18 GW in 9M; Sales Gap Hits 1 GW Photograph: (AI)
India manufactured close to 18 GW (17.79 GW to be exact) of DCR-compliant solar modules during January-September 2026, while sales stood at 16.87 GW, leaving a manufacturing-sales gap of around 0.92 GW, according to data from the MNRE/National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) DCR Verification Portal (refer to the graph below). A snapshot of the DCR portal accessed on September 29 showed cumulative module manufacturing at 17,868.02 MW, or 17.87 GW, and module sales at 16,986.84 MW, or 16.99 GW. The portal also showed 18 solar cell manufacturers, 137 solar module manufacturers, 52,477 solar cell and module stock entries and more than 7.09 million DCR certificates generated.
The monthly data on the DCR portal shows that domestic module production accelerated during the middle of the year. Production was around 1.7 GW in January, rising to approximately 1.8 GW in February and 2 GW in March. After dipping to around 1.6 GW in April, output recovered to nearly 1.9 GW in May and crossed 2.3 GW in both June and July.
August emerged as the strongest month, with production touching roughly 2.5 GW. Sales, however, have been more uneven. They rose to more than 2.3 GW in March and around 2.4 GW in June, before moderating in July and August. The September figure should be treated separately since the portal snapshot was captured during the month and therefore does not necessarily represent a completed monthly reporting period.
The manufacturing-sales gap also should not automatically be interpreted as finished-module inventory, since production and sales can be reported at different stages and the portal separately tracks stock. Hitesh Doshi, Chairman and Managing Director of Waaree Group, described the near-1 GW gap as an important signal for India’s rapidly expanding solar manufacturing ecosystem.
“This is an important signal. India is simultaneously creating domestic manufacturing capacity and generating unprecedented domestic demand for solar energy. The combination of DCR, ALMM, PLI and PM Surya Ghar is helping create a powerful ecosystem,” he wrote on social media.
He also added, “With significant new solar-cell manufacturing capacity coming online over the next quarter, India will be second largest solar cell manufacturer in the world , and moving towards a much more integrated solar value chain. The opportunity now is to ensure that India’s rapidly growing solar deployment is increasingly supported by Indian technology, Indian manufacturing and Indian supply chains.
The growth in DCR production comes alongside a sharp expansion in India’s ALMM-listed manufacturing base. Saur Energy’s analysis of MNRE’s ALMM data reported that India’s cumulative enlisted solar module manufacturing capacity has already surprassed 200 GW. The pace of capacity addition therefore remains substantially faster than the actual DCR module production captured by the portal.
That distinction is important: ALMM capacity represents enlisted manufacturing capacity, while the DCR portal figures represent reported manufacturing and sales activity. The two numbers should not be treated as equivalent measures of actual output.
The latest DCR numbers also come at a point when the definition of India’s domestic solar supply chain is changing. The government has introduced ALMM List-II for solar cells, with the framework requiring modules covered by ALMM to use cells from enlisted manufacturers under the applicable provisions. Saur Energy reported the government’s move to introduce the cell list as domestic cell manufacturing capacity increased.
The DCR portal data provides an indication of the scale that India’s domestic module manufacturing ecosystem has reached: nearly 18 GW of DCR modules produced in just nine months, with reported sales only about 0.9 GW lower. The key question now is therefore shifting from simply how much module capacity India can add to how quickly that capacity can be supported by cell manufacturing, technology upgrades, domestic demand and deeper supply-chain integration. And the nearly 1 GW difference between DCR module production and sales is a useful number to watch as that manufacturing expansion continues.
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