Union Budget Raises Combined Expenditure of IREDA and SECI by 143%

The 2022 Union Budget has increased the expenditure budget of the two of its premiere agencies that are mandated with enabling a thriving renewable sector – Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The budget for the two central firms has been proposed to be raised by a whopping 143 per cent.

This push was predictable, considering India’s commitment to the global community to have a renewable energy capacity of 500 gigawatt (GW) by 2030. Both the agencies are in fact public sector undertakings (PSUs) that come under the administrative control of the Ministry of New and Renewable Ministry (MNRE). For the upcoming financial year, the Central Government has proposed a total expenditure of Rs. 28,570.99 crore by IREDA and SECI. This is against a Budget expenditure of Rs. 11,778 crore proposed in the previous year. But that is not the amount that is spent in FY22 – the current fiscal.

The revised expenditure by IREDA and SECI in the current fiscal now stands at Rs. 21,474 crore which means a good push has been provided to the renewables sector; especially the solar power.

Hence, if the present rise is to be compared with the actual budgeted expenditure in FY23 is higher by a good 33 per cent. With regards to IREDA only, in the Budget for FY23, the government has raised the expenditure by IREDA by a whopping 150 per cent to Rs 27,572 crore compared to the budget expenditure in FY22 at Rs11,017 crore. Compared to the revised expenditure of Rs 19,639.74 crore by IREDA in FY22, the budget expenditure in FY23 by the company is higher by about 40 per cent.

SECI, a smaller agency in comparison with IREDA, has the budget expenditure in FY23 higher by 31 per cent at Rs 998 crore. But compared with the revised expenditure of Rs. 1,834 crore in FY22, SECI’s budget expenditure for next financial year is down by 46 per cent.

The increase in the budgetary allocation is necessary as India has its commitment to the international community under the Paris Agreement to get 175 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022. Just recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to increase the country’s renewable energy capacity to constitute 500 GW of India’s total installed capacity by 2030 This