India ranks third globally in installed renewable energy capacity, after China and the United States, according to Renewable Energy Statistics 2026, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday.
Joshi said that India was ahead of Brazil in the rankings. The International Renewable Energy Agency released the statistics as of December 2025. He said India achieved a total addition to non-fossil capacity of 55.3 GW during the financial year 2025-2026.
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China has the highest renewable energy capacity at 2,258.02 GW, followed by the United States with 467.92 GW and India with 250.52 GW. India is followed by Brazil with a capacity of 228.20 GW and Germany with a capacity of 199.92 GW.
The Minister also stressed that in July 2025, India reached its highest ever share of renewable energy in electricity generation. He said that renewable energy sources meet 51.5% of the country’s total electricity demand of 203 gigawatts.
Joshi said India’s total power generation during 2025-26 (up to March 2026) reached 1,845,921 thermal units. The share of non-fossil fuels in total generation reached 29.2% in 2025-26 (538.97 Btu). India achieved the milestone of 50% of its cumulative electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources in June 2025, five years ahead of the 2030 target set under its Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement.
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In line with the Prime Minister’s announcement at COP26, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is working to achieve 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030, Joshi added.
As of March 31, a total of 283.46 GW of power from non-fossil fuel sources has been installed in the country. This includes 274.68 GW of renewable energy (150.26 GW of solar, 56.09 GW of wind, 11.75 GW of bioenergy, 5.17 GW of small hydropower, 51.41 GW of large hydropower) and 8.78 GW of nuclear power.
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HT reported on March 25 that India has decided to raise the level of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement for 2031-2035 and announced three major climate pledges. The three new goals are to ensure that emissions intensity is reduced by 47%, ensure that 60% of India’s total electricity capacity comes from non-fossil sources by 2035, and create 3.5 to 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent carbon sinks.
