How to become a PM Surya Ghar vendor in 2026

PM Surya Ghar is the largest rooftop solar programme India has run. By early August 2026 it had reached about 50 lakh households and 14.8 GW, with 34,219 vendors registered and 29,469 of them active (Mercom, Business Standard, August 2026). July 2026 alone saw about 5.06 lakh installations. The scheme runs to March 2027 with a target of one crore homes.

Every one of those installations went through a registered vendor. The guidelines leave no alternative: "The scheme shall be implemented only through the vendors registered on the National Portal." If you install rooftop solar for homes and you are not registered, the consumer cannot get the central subsidy through you.

This guide covers how registration works, what you sign, what the system must meet, and where vendor files stall. It is built from MNRE's own documents: the Operational Guidelines of 7 June 2024, the national portal vendor manual of 26 June 2024, and MNRE's 2022 empanelment order. Where something changed in 2025 or 2026, we cite the trade press that reported it.

#Three ways to register

The Operational Guidelines give vendors "option to register with the state DISCOMs/state agencies for state level registration and with the National Programme Implementation Agency (NPIA) for national/multi-state/state level registration." Where a state has several DISCOMs, it names one nodal DISCOM or agency to register vendors for all of them.

There is no tender. The guidelines are explicit that there "shall be no tendering or rate discovery" to empanel vendors, unlike Phase II. Prices are agreed between vendor and consumer.

• State-level: registration with the state's nodal DISCOM or agency, following the Phase II procedure. MNRE's 2022 order set a performance bank guarantee of Rs 2,50,000 valid for at least five years, listing within one month, and empanelment valid for one year with yearly renewal.
• Multi-state: registration on the national portal with a bank guarantee of Rs 2.5 lakh per state, capped at Rs 25 lakh. A vendor already registered can add states at Rs 2.5 lakh each (SolarQuarter, November 2024).
• National: registration on the national portal with a Rs 25 lakh bank guarantee. Trade press reports national registration as valid for five years, renewable for five more at no extra cost if the guarantee is extended.

Renewal is one place to check your own state's rules. The 2022 order says state empanelment renews yearly; the national route runs five years. Do not assume one rule covers both.

#The national portal steps

MNRE's vendor manual sets out the national and multi-state route:

1. On the national portal, open Vendor Login and then Vendor Registration.
2. Enter company type and PAN, and upload a copy of the PAN.
3. Enter organisation name, email, mobile, address and a password, and upload documents.
4. Choose the registration type and enter the bank guarantee details.
5. Upload the guarantee in the prescribed format and post the physical copy to REC Limited, the implementing agency, at its Gurugram office.

Once registered, keep your profile, operational districts and product rates current on the portal. Consumers search vendors by the districts you select, so an out-of-date district list hides you from the people you can serve.

#What the state declaration asks for

State-level empanelment under the 2022 order uses a declaration. It asks for:

• Legal status: firm name and whether you are a company, LLP, partnership or proprietorship.
• Tax and labour IDs: GSTIN, PAN and PF number where applicable.
• Technical staff: at least three trained people.
• Compliance: electrical safety rules and MNRE specifications.
• Maintenance: a comprehensive maintenance commitment of at least five years.
• Service details: a named complaint contact, and the districts you will work in.

Misleading information can lead to blacklisting and forfeiture of the guarantee.

#The vendor-consumer agreement

The guidelines attach a model agreement at Annexure 2 but say "the actual agreement may vary on a case-to-case basis." Most vendors start from the model, and it is worth knowing what it puts on you:

• Site survey and design: a survey and detailed project report covering roof strength and shadow-free area.
• Equipment: modules made in India, including the cells, meeting BIS, IS and IEC standards.
• Documents for the consumer: test reports, serial numbers, warranty cards, the single-line diagram and structure drawings.
• Net meter: supply, testing and approvals are in the vendor's scope.
• Warranty and maintenance: the whole system warranted for five years from DISCOM commissioning, with five years of comprehensive maintenance.
• Performance: a performance ratio of at least 75% at commissioning, maintained for five years, with a calibrated radiation sensor.

New in September 2026: the consumer must approve it. Energetica and Indian Infrastructure reported that the consumer now has to approve the agreement on the portal. The vendor uploads the agreement and the total cost; the consumer gets an SMS, an email and a portal alert, and approves or rejects. Until they approve, the vendor cannot upload installation details. Any change after approval restarts the check. For loan applications and systems above 10 kW, the agreement total, including taxes, has to match the quotation submitted at the feasibility stage.

In practice this adds one more wait to every file, controlled by a customer who may not check their email. Build the approval request into your installation booking, not after it.

#What the system must meet

• Domestic content: modules must be made from Indian-made cells. The guidelines state that non-DCR modules "in any form" make the installation ineligible for subsidy.
• DCR certificates per consumer: vendors now generate a business-to-consumer DCR certificate for each consumer on the NISE portal, linked to the national portal, and enter its 16-digit number. Files with repeated or mismatched serial numbers were being sent back for re-verification (Energetica, May 2026).
• ALMM List-II: cell-level ALMM rules apply to non-government projects commissioned after 1 June 2026. For subsidised PM Surya Ghar systems this changes little, because subsidy already required Indian cells.
• Modules: IEC 61215 and IS/IEC 61730 certified, with an RFID tag inside the laminate.
• Inverters: compliant with the 2017 quality control order, at least 20% overload capacity and data communication by SIM or dongle.
• Structure: hot-dip galvanised steel or aluminium, designed for the local wind zone, with a 25-year design life.
• Earthing: never above 5 ohms. Systems of 10 kW and above need three separate earth pits.

#The consumer journey, and where you touch it

1. The consumer registers on the portal and chooses a registered vendor.
2. Vendor and consumer agree terms, and the consumer now approves the agreement on the portal.
3. Feasibility approval. Systems up to 10 kW are deemed accepted where the state has operationalised the 2020 consumer rights rules.
4. The vendor installs, and the system details and geo-tagged photos are uploaded.
5. The DISCOM inspects, signs the net-metering agreement and approves, sends back or rejects.
6. The subsidy is released. The guidelines say within 15 days of DISCOM approval.

The subsidy is Rs 30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and Rs 18,000 for the third, so a maximum of Rs 78,000 at 3 kW. Special category states get Rs 33,000 and Rs 19,800. Consumers can also borrow: PIB described collateral-free loans up to Rs 2 lakh through public sector banks in March 2025, and a concessional rate of 5.75% was reported in August 2026. Check the current rate with the bank before quoting it to a customer.

#Where vendor files get stuck

DISCOM send-backs. The DISCOM can approve, send back or reject after inspection. A missing photo, a wrong serial number or an earthing reading on the wrong side of 5 ohms sends the file back to you.

Serial and DCR mismatches. The certificate-per-consumer rule means a typo in a module serial number now blocks a file. Installers who track serial numbers from dispatch to roof avoid most of these.

Agreements outrunning installation capacity. On 26 August 2026, MNRE deactivated 66 vendors for a month because the number of agreements they had uploaded far exceeded what they were installing. It also advised vendors not to hold applications for more than 60 days without reason (Mercom, Energetica). Deactivated vendors drop out of consumer search but can finish existing jobs.

Loans. Reuters reported in February 2026 that about 60% of loan applications were unapproved and about 7% rejected, with banks asking for collateral below Rs 2 lakh and rejecting over missed electricity payments or outdated land records.

Consumer approval. The newest gate. A customer who does not approve on time holds the whole file.

MNRE also has a violation process: eight days to respond, a reminder, a show-cause notice at 15 days, and a one-month deactivation if you do not respond (Energetica, June 2026).

#What this means for running an installation business

Look at that list again. Almost none of it is about installing panels. It is about tracking: which consumer is waiting to approve, which file was sent back and why, which serial numbers went to which roof, how many applications you hold against how many you can install this month.

At 10 installs a month that fits in a spreadsheet and one person's memory. At 50 or 100 it does not, and MNRE now acts on the gap. That is the reason we built SolarOS, a 16-module ERP for a solar EPC, with a dedicated DISCOM liaison and subsidy tracker next to inventory, projects and invoicing. Whatever you use, the test is simple: can you see, today, every file that has been waiting more than a week, and why?

Sources: MNRE Operational Guidelines for PM Surya Ghar (7 June 2024); MNRE National Portal Vendor Manual (26 June 2024); MNRE OM 318/6/2022-GCRT (10 June 2022); PIB backgrounder (13 March 2025); Mercom India (June 2024, August 2026); Energetica India (May, June, August, September 2026); Renewable Watch (May and November 2024); SolarQuarter (November 2024); TaiyangNews (July 2026); Business Standard (4 August 2026); Reuters via BusinessDay (16 February 2026). Rules change often under this scheme; check the national portal and your DISCOM before acting on any figure here.