Despite ongoing delays caused by international tensions and supply issues, India has committed over ₹13,000 crore to six new nuclear projects, aiming to add 8,000 MW to its grid and strengthen domestic capabilities in advanced reactors.
India’s nuclear power push has received a sizeable fiscal boost, with the government telling parliament that it has sanctioned ₹13,355 crore in equity for six under-construction atomic energy projects over the past five years and that the full amount has already been used. The disclosure, made in the Rajya Sabha by minister of state for atomic energy Jitendra Singh, underscores how central nuclear generation remains to New Delhi’s broader plan to expand low-carbon electricity supply.
Singh said the projects have faced repeated delays, with setbacks ranging from design changes introduced after Japan’s Fukushima disaster to shortages of critical equipment, the Covid-19 pandemic and its knock-on effects on supply chains and labour, and financial stress among contractors after the health crisis. He also cited difficulty in sourcing components from Russia, tough soil conditions at project sites, shortages of skilled workers and disruption caused by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
To keep the programme moving, the Department of Atomic Energy and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd have been reviewing progress at a senior level and tightening oversight, according to the minister’s written reply. Officials have also been holding regular meetings with vendors, giving project managers greater authority and setting up a board-level sub-committee to track execution more closely. The government is also leaning towards fleet-mode procurement, which means placing larger combined orders to reduce the risk of future shortages in equipment and to improve supply planning.
If all six projects are completed and brought on line in stages, Singh said they will add 8,000 megawatts to the national grid. That would mark a meaningful expansion in India’s nuclear fleet at a time when the government is trying to deepen domestic capabilities in advanced reactors. In March, Reuters reported that the government set aside ₹20,000 crore for small modular reactors, with the Department of Atomic Energy focusing on indigenous designs such as the Bharat Small Modular Reactor and a 55 megawatt unit. More recently, the Finance Ministry moved to ease costs for the sector by waiving customs duty on nuclear power imports for a retrospective period and extending the exemption in the Union Budget 2026-27, while Maharashtra signed memoranda of understanding worth ₹6.5 lakh crore with private and state-linked firms to build out nuclear power capacity.
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