Solar energy funding dips 9% in 2023; 2024 'kicks off' with US$1 billion investment

By Lakshmitha Raj*
Solar energy tech companies have already secured slightly over US$1 billion in funding in 2024 (till Feb 7, 2024) after total funding into Solar Energy companies in India fell 9% to US$1.55B in 2023 from US$1.7B in 2022. A total of 39 $100M+ rounds have been closed till date, with Delhi leading the city-wise funding, followed by Gurugram and Mumbai.
Tracxn, a leading market intelligence platform has released its Geo Solar Energy Report. The report, based on their extensive database, provides a round-up of funding and other major developments in India’s solar energy space in 2023.
This sector secured funding worth US$1.55 billion in 2023, 9% lower than the US$1.7 billion raised in 2022. However, within the first month of 2024, this space has witnessed US$1 billion in funding, with Sukhbir Agro Energy raising US$1 billion in its private equity round in January 2024.
The majority of the funding in this space comes from late-stage rounds. However, a decline in late-stage investments led to a subsequent drop in overall funding in 2023. Companies in this space attracted late-stage funding worth US$1.3 billion in 2023, a 23% decrease from the US$1.7 billion raised in 2022.
A sharp surge was observed in early-stage funding, which rose six-fold to US$252 million in 2023 from US$39 million in 2022. Seed-stage funding in this space has raised a total of US$11.5 million in 2023, a growth of 58% compared to the US$7.26 million raised in 2022.
The solar energy sector in India has witnessed a total of 39 US$100 million+ rounds to date, out of which 12 have taken place in the last two years. No unicorns have emerged from this sector so far.
Among the cities, Delhi takes the lead in terms of total funding to date, followed by Gurgaon and Mumbai. Solar energy companies based in Delhi have raised US$3.1 billion to date, followed by those based in Gurugram (US$2.7 billion) and Mumbai (US$2.3 billion).
There has been notable activity in terms of exits within this sector. The Indian solar energy sector has seen 43 acquisitions to date, of which 16 acquisitions were witnessed in the last few years, and 2024 has seen only one acquisition so far. Further, 49 companies have gone public to date, out of which three IPOs took place in 2023 and two in 2022.

Among the cities, Delhi takes the lead in terms of total funding, followed by Gurgaon and Mumbai

IFC, Villgro, and DFC are the most active investors in the Indian Solar Energy space to date. CIIE, Social Alpha, and Villgro are the top seed-stage investors in this space, while Acumen, CIIE, and FMO are the top early-stage investors. Axis Bank, British International, and KKR are the top late-stage investors in this space.

Meanwhile, the government of India has started to focus on locally developing solar products by providing incentives worth more than US$3 billion in the last three years. States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are already generating more than 9 MW of solar energy.
The Indian government has set a target of net zero emissions by 2070. It also plans to diversify 50% of its electricity requirement to renewable energy by 2030. The government is giving a push to the deployment of renewable sources of energy, especially solar, through policies and incentives.
The government also encourages 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through the automatic route to promote solar energy within the country. These initiatives are expected to bolster solar energy companies and accelerate sectoral growth.
---
*Manager PR and Corporate Communications, Tracxn Technologies Ltd., Bangalore

Comments

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Ahmedabad's Sabarmati riverfront under scrutiny after Subhash Bridge damage

By Rosamma Thomas* Large cracks have appeared on Subhash Bridge across the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, close to the Gandhi Ashram . Built in 1973, this bridge, named after Subhash Chandra Bose , connects the eastern and western parts of the city and is located close to major commercial areas. The four-lane bridge has sidewalks for pedestrians, and is vital for access to Ashram Road , Ellis Bridge , Gandhinagar and the Sabarmati Railway Station .

Farewell to Robin Smith, England’s Lionhearted Warrior Against Pace

By Harsh Thakor* Robin Smith, who has died at the age of 62, was among the most adept and convincing players of fast bowling during an era when English cricket was in decline and pace bowling was at its most lethal. Unwavering against the tormenting West Indies pace attack or the relentless Australians, Smith epitomised courage and stroke-making prowess. His trademark shot, an immensely powerful square cut, made him a scourge of opponents. Wearing a blue England helmet without a visor or grille, he relished pulling, hooking and cutting the quicks.

No action yet on complaint over assault on lawyer during Tirunelveli public hearing

By A Representative A day after a detailed complaint was filed seeking disciplinary action against ten lawyers in Tirunelveli for allegedly assaulting human rights lawyer Dr. V. Suresh, no action has yet been taken by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, according to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Latur’s quiet rebel: Dr Suryanarayan Ransubhe and his war on Manuvad

By Ravi Ranjan* In an India still fractured by caste, religion, and language, where narrow loyalties repeatedly threaten to tear the nation apart, Rammanohar Lohia once observed that the true leader of the bahujans is one under whose banner even non-bahujans feel proud to march. The remark applies far beyond politics. In the literary-cultural and social spheres as well, only a person armed with unflinching historical consciousness and the moral courage to refuse every form of personality worship—including worship of oneself—can hope to touch the weak pulse of the age and speak its bitter truths without fear or favour.

Differences in 2002 and 2025 SIR revision procedures spark alarm in Gujarat

By A Representative Civil rights groups and electoral reform activists have raised serious concerns over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Gujarat and 11 other states, alleging that the newly enforced requirements could lead to large-scale deletion of legitimate voters, particularly those unable to furnish documentation linking them to the 2002 electoral list.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

From crime to verdict: The 27-year journey that 'rewarded' the destroyers of Babri Masjid

By Shamsul Islam Thirty-three years ago, on December 6, 1992, a 16th-century mosque was reduced to rubble by a frenzied mob orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political fronts. The demolition was not a spontaneous outburst of Hindu sentiment; it was the meticulously planned culmination of a hate campaign that branded Indian Muslims as “Babur-ki-aulad” and the Babri Masjid as a symbol of historical humiliation.

Search This Blog