India’s solar sector has grown quickly but rapid growth in any industry tends to surface a familiar problem that not all products in the market are equal, and not all suppliers are accountable. The ALMM was the government’s answer to that problem.
Understanding what it actually does, and what it means in practice for buyers and developers, is more useful than treating it as just another compliance checkbox.
What Is ALMM?
The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) is a mandatory registration framework maintained by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Introduced under the Approved Models and Manufacturers of Solar Photovoltaic Modules Order, 2019, and first issued on March 10, 2021, it functions as an official quality gate for the Indian solar market.
The list has two parts. List-I covers finished solar PV modules. List-II, introduced in September 2025 and enforced from June 1, 2026, covers the solar cells that go inside those modules. In plain terms: List-I is the approval for the panel, and List-II is the approval for what’s inside it.
Only modules and cells from ALMM-listed manufacturers are permitted in government-owned projects, government-assisted projects, and projects operating under schemes that provide regulatory benefits like net metering or open access. As of 2025, over 80 module manufacturers are listed under List-I, per MNRE data. List-II currently covers approximately 30 GW of approved domestic cell manufacturing capacity, per the seventh revision published in April 2026.
What Getting Listed Actually Requires
Getting onto the ALMM list isn’t straightforward, which is precisely the point.
Modules must meet certain safety and performance requirements, largely aligned with international IEC standards, for BIS certification. This is the minimum and a manufacturer can move to the next stage only after passing this.
The MNRE application requires extensive documentation, including company registration, financial details, comprehensive facility specifications, production capacity details and a complete outline of quality control procedures.Once submitted, the National Institute of Solar Energy, an autonomous body under the MNRE, conducts a physical inspection of the manufacturing facility.
If the inspection clears, the manufacturer and its specific module models are added to the list. That listing is valid for two years, after which a renewal and re-inspection is required. Listing a new module model requires a fresh application for that specific model.
The entire process from documentation to approval is designed to be thorough enough that manufacturers can’t treat it as a formality.
What It Means for Buyers and Procurement Teams
For anyone procuring solar modules, the ALMM list does something simple but important. It removes a category of risk that’s otherwise difficult to manage: the risk of buying from a manufacturer with no verifiable quality infrastructure behind it.
A module appearing on ALMM List-I means it has cleared BIS certification, passed a NISE facility inspection, and is backed by documented quality processes. That’s a reliable minimum standard that non-listed products haven’t been required to demonstrate.
There are practical implications here that go beyond quality assurance. Modules sourced from non-listed manufacturers disqualify a project from government subsidies, scheme benefits, and regulatory advantages like net metering. For residential buyers, this includes schemes like PM Surya Ghar, which offers significant subsidies that simply don’t apply if the installed modules aren’t ALMM-listed.
The question of solar panel price in India often comes up here. ALMM-listed modules can carry a higher upfront cost than uncertified alternatives available in the market. But the relevant comparison isn’t the upfront price, it’s the total value over a 25-year module lifecycle.
A lower-cost module with no quality verification behind it creates performance risk, maintenance exposure, and project ineligibility that erodes that apparent saving quickly. Certification isn’t a premium. It’s the cost of accountability.
What It Means for Developers and EPC Companies
For developers and EPC contractors, ALMM compliance is the entry requirement for any project with government linkage.
Under the ALMM mandate, any project seeking government support, participating in competitive bidding, or operating under open access or net-metering frameworks must procure from ALMM-listed suppliers. Using non-listed modules on a qualifying project doesn’t just create risks disqualifying the project from its regulatory framework entirely.
The extension of ALMM to cells under List-II adds a further layer from June 1, 2026. Module manufacturers on List-I must now source their cells exclusively from List-II-approved domestic suppliers.
For EPC companies and developers evaluating suppliers, this means it’s no longer sufficient to verify module-level ALMM listing alone. The cells inside those modules now carry their own compliance requirement and the responsibility to verify this sits with the procurement team, not just the manufacturer.
What to Look for Beyond the List
ALMM certification is a baseline. It confirms that a manufacturer has met the minimum standard required to operate in the Indian solar market. It doesn’t differentiate between manufacturers who just clear that bar and those who build significantly above it.
For buyers and developers making procurement decisions that will sit on a project’s balance sheet for 25 years, the question worth asking isn’t only “is this manufacturer ALMM-listed?” It’s also, “what does their quality infrastructure look like beyond the listing requirements?”
Gujarat has become one of India’s most active states for solar manufacturing investment, and several serious players have based their operations there. Any credible solar panel manufacturer in Gujarat worth evaluating for a major project should be able to demonstrate not just ALMM listing, but the manufacturing depth and quality systems that explain why their modules perform the way they do over time.
GREW Solar, headquartered in Ahmedabad and operating a 6.5 GW module manufacturing facility in Dudu, Rajasthan, alongside a 3.5 GW cell manufacturing facility in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh, is one example of a manufacturer building toward that level of integration with ALMM certification as the foundation.
The ALMM is a meaningful quality standard but it works best when treated as the starting point of a procurement evaluation, not the end of it.
