Executive summary

India’s residential rooftop solar (RTS) sector has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. As of April 2026, the residential RTS installed capacity has reached over 10 GW, with more than 60 per cent of the total capacity added since the launch of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in 2024 (MNRE 2026, Gulia, et al. 2024). Ambitious national targets, complemented by increasing electricity demand and supportive policy instruments, have enabled this growth. More than 3 million households across the country have already adopted RTS systems, while the government aims to expand installations to 10 million households (30 GW) by 2027 (MNRE 2024, MNRE 2026).

This expansion of distributed generation marks a structural shift in how electricity is produced and consumed at the household level. As installations scale up, ensuring that systems deliver their projected output consistently over their operational lifetime becomes central to preserving their economic and environmental value. Against this backdrop, the study is guided by four central questions:

• Why does operation and maintenance (O&M) remain a gap in India’s residential RTS ecosystem?
• What are the economic consequences of irregular maintenance in RTS ecosystems?
• What is the market opportunity for RTS maintenance services in India’s residential segment?
• What scalable business models can unlock the residential RTS maintenance market and mainstream these services?

Why does O&M remain a gap in India’s residential RTS ecosystem

From the outset, India’s RTS policies, including the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, have rightly prioritised accelerating RTS adoption. However, post-installation maintenance and long-term operational performance remain areas where policy direction is still evolving. While residential RTS systems are generally considered low-maintenance, basic upkeep such as periodic cleaning, system diagnostics, and routine servicing are essential to ensure that they deliver their expected electricity output over time.

• How are O&M services currently delivered across the residential RTS ecosystem?

To better understand how maintenance is currently delivered in the residential RTS segment, we engaged with more than 60 RTS vendors across multiple states/Union territories (including Bihar, Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand) through structured surveys and one-on-one consultations. The consultations sought to understand the scope of services currently offered under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, vendor practices around maintenance delivery, and the structural constraints affecting service provision.

The findings pointed out that although the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana mandates five years of free maintenance, the scope of services and minimum frequency of visits are not clearly defined. As a result, maintenance delivery varies significantly across vendors, ranging from quarterly visits to once-a-year servicing. In many cases, service provision remains reactive, initiated only when consumers report system issues. Table ES1 summarises these findings.

Table ES1. Evaluating the operational realities of residential RTS maintenance services

Source: Authors’ analysis

• Why does maintenance remain peripheral in the residential RTS ecosystem?

The findings suggest that maintenance remains a peripheral activity within the residential RTS ecosystem, shaped by a combination of behavioural, market, and institutional factors. Together, these factors create a system-level bottleneck that limits the realisation of the full economic and environmental potential of RTS systems (Figure ES1).

Figure ES1. From low consumer awareness to weak regulatory enforcement, systemic gaps hinder effective maintenance services

What are the economic consequences of irregular maintenance in the RTS ecosystem?

There is substantial evidence that regular maintenance is a crucial component in ensuring the long-term performance of solar systems (Abdulla, Sleptchenko, and Nayfeh 2024). Irregular maintenance practices can significantly reduce energy generation, accelerate system degradation, and compromise the long-term durability of residential RTS installations. Over time, this directly affects the financial viability of systems by eroding expected savings and shortening lifetimes. The implications extend beyond individual consumers to the entire RTS ecosystem (Figure ES2). To assess these implications at scale, the report models performance variance across five scenarios. These range from ideal system operation (15 per cent CUF) to extreme underperformance (3 per cent CUF). The analysis evaluates how deviations from projected generation output affect household savings, subsidy efficiency, discoms’ planning assumptions, and realised emissions outcomes.

Figure ES2. Financial implications of irregular maintenance for different stakeholders in the residential RTS ecosystem

What is the market opportunity for RTS maintenance services in India’s residential segment?

The observed gaps in awareness, standardisation, and service consistency point not only to structural weaknesses but also a significant untapped market opportunity within the residential RTS ecosystem. As installation capacity is scaled up, the cumulative base of systems requiring periodic servicing is expected to grow rapidly, driving rapid expansion of an emerging economic opportunity.

• Cleaning services alone represent an INR 19 - 54 billion (1,900 - 5,400 crore) annual market: Based on the current installed capacity (10 GW), the estimated annual total addressable market (TAM) for cleaning services in the residential O&M segment is nearly NR 19 billion (1,900 crore; considering a monthly cleaning frequency). Achieving the 30 GW target by 2027 would expand the TAM by 3 times to nearly INR 54 billion (5,400 crore).
• Bundled maintenance services significantly expand the revenue pool to INR 50–144 billion (INR 5,000–14,400 crore). Considering the broader O&M market, including full-service packages (such as basic system health checks and electrical inspections) rather than cleaning alone, the market potential increases substantially. Under the current installed capacity (10 GW), the annual TAM for bundled services is estimated at INR 50 billion (5,000 crore; considering a monthly service frequency). At 30 GW of residential RTS capacity, the potential would expand to nearly INR 144 billion (14,400 crore).

Along with significant market opportunities, the O&M sector also holds strong employment potential. Considering national target of 30 GW RTS capacity, this could generate approximately 0.33 million (3.30 lakh) jobs in the O&M sector annually (CEEW, NRDC 2026).

Figure ES3. More than 70% of the market opportunity for bundled maintenance services is concentrated in 5 states

What scalable business models can unlock the residential RTS maintenance market and mainstream these services?

While the multi-billion recurring O&M market presents a massive opportunity, it remains highly fragmented, unorganised, and lacks standardisation. As installations scale up from 3 million households to tens of millions, the structural gap is likely to widen unless service delivery becomes formalised. To institutionalise maintenance practices and to capture the economic value, the ecosystem must shift towards structured, tech-enabled business models. This report proposes two scalable frameworks to create an accountable maintenance ecosystem:

• Platform-led marketplace model driven by private aggregation: Considering the administrative constraints of discoms, this model proposes assigning operational responsibility to private, third-party aggregators, operating similarly to modern urban service platforms (such as Urban Company, TaskRabbit, Sulekha).
  • The mechanism: A private platform aggregates a pool of skilled, certified workers and offers the same modular, standardised service packages directly to households.
  • The accountability loop: The private platform assumes responsibility for background checks, service dispatching, performance verification (via the same geo-tagged photo requirements), and payment disbursement based on a contracted revenue model.
  • Pros & cons: This approach offers rapid scalability and relieves discoms of administrative burden. However, its success hinges on building consumer trust and preventing fragmented quality across different private platforms; standardised guidelines defined by state or central government may aid the exercise.
• Pay-per-use service model (anchored in oversight by discoms or state nodal agencies)1 : In this model, the discom or state nodal agency (SNA) acts not as a service provider, but as an accountable intermediary that standardises, verifies, and facilitates O&M transactions between consumers and empanelled vendors.
  • The mechanism: Using a dedicated digital platform (or an extension of the existing National Portal for RTS), empanelled vendors can publish standardised, modular AMC packages. Consumers can then book the service via the digital platform and make payments to discoms or SNAs through a centralised payment system.
  • The accountability loop: The SNA/discom disburses payments to the vendor only after the vendor submits verified proof of service. This includes mandatory preand post-maintenance checklists, geotagged photographs, and digital consumer signatures.
  • Pros & cons: This model ensures high regulatory oversight and transparent grievance redressal, but it requires significant institutional bandwidth from alreadystretched discoms. However, it can act as a source of revenue for discoms/SNAs, which can impose per-service facilitation charges.

Recommendations and way forward

While the proposed business models can improve the accessibility, accountability, and standardisation of RTS maintenance services, structural gaps persist, including low consumer awareness and limited visibility of generation data. As India expands its RTS footprint, the focus must move beyond installation and capacity addition to prioritising sustained system performance as well. Figure ES4 presents a strategic roadmap outlining key steps to achieve this transition.

Figure ES4. Strategic roadmap for strengthening system performance in India’s residential RTS ecosystem