Zero Electricity Bill – Free Electricity for Poor via PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

Scheme launched on Feb 13, 2024 with ₹75,021 crore outlay — the world's largest residential rooftop solar initiative. Target: 1 crore households with rooftop solar by FY 2026-27, producing up to 300 free units/month per household. Progress as of March 2026: 25.02 lakh rooftop solar systems installed (25% of target), with 63.26 lakh applications received. ₹14,585 crore disbursed as central financial assistance. India added 7.1 GW of rooftop solar in 2025, up 122% YoY, with residential accounting for 76% driven by this scheme. Top performing states: Gujarat (5.15 lakh installations), Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan. However, conversion rate is only 22.7% of applications translating to installations — bottlenecks in financing, vendor capacity, and DISCOM approvals. Parliamentary Standing Committee expressed concern over slow progress. The scheme targets all residential consumers, not specifically the poor — subsidy structure benefits middle-class homeowners more than BPL households who may not own rooftops. Marked partial: scheme is operational and growing fast, but still at 25% of target, and the "poor households" framing is broader than actual beneficiary profile.