Gautam Solar to invest ₹4,000 cr in 5 GW solar cell manufacturing plant in MP; to be fully operational by 2029

Solar module manufacturer Gautam Solar Pvt. Ltd. (GSPL) has announced an investment of ₹4,000 crore for setting up a 54-acre solar cell manufacturing facility in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. At the facility, advanced TOPCon solar cells are expected to be produced with a total planned capacity of 5 GW.

“With one of the largest solar cell manufacturing units in India using the latest highly advanced TOPCon technology, we envision to deepen domestic solar manufacturing context while reducing reliance on imports for the ecosystem. Our vision is integrating solar value chains in India from wafers to modules,” said Gautam Mohanka, CEO and director, Gautam Solar, in a statement.

Phase 1 of the project is already underway, the company states, with the establishment of the solar cell manufacturing capacity of 2 GW. Mohanka told Fortune India that the first phase will see an investment of ₹1,500 crore and is going to be completed by June next year.

Following which, the company eyes for expansion of another 3 GW solar cell manufacturing capacity under Phase 2 with an investment requirement of ₹2,500 crore. The facility with additional capacity is expected to be operational by June 2029.

Before the Phase 2 expansion, Mohanka reveals that the company aims to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to be able to raise funds for its Phase 2.

Mohanka, however, did not reveal whether the funds so deployed were raised entirely from within the company or by external investors.

The company had previously in April announced an investment of ₹1,900 crore including this ₹1,500 crore investment in Phase 1. The investment amount expected to be deployed in expanding its module manufacturing capacity is expected to be around ₹400 crore.

The company has recently received a long-term rating of CRISIL A-/Stable and a short-term rating of CRISIL A2+. With the investments announced so far this year, the company aims to expand solar wafer manufacturing, creating a fully integrated solar value chain in India.

The country has set the ambitious goal of achieving 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Currently the solar supply chain is highly concentrated and dependent on China. “The global demand for solar was at about 400GW in 2023, and of this 400 GW, 97% of the wafers came from China. (Around) 80-82% of solar modules came from China. This (thus) creates a problem of concentration,” Ajay Mathur, former Director General of the ISA, had told Fortune India earlier.

Founded in 1998 by B.K. Mohanka, Gautam Solar is one of the country’s key solar companies. The revenue for FY25 was expected to be around ₹1,200 crore and ₹900 crore in FY24.

The company currently has the capacity to produce 3.2 gigawatts of modules with 1 GW capacity in Haridwar and 2.2 GW capacity in Bhiwani, Haryana. Mohanka had told Fortune India in April that the company has begun small-scale exports to the U.S. and was exploring the possibility of setting up local facilities.