India has a long and hot summer with temperatures around 35-48 degrees Celsius from March-September. The average annual sunshine hours in India exceeds 2,000 hours, making it a suitable country for developing solar energy. The northwestern and southern regions of India have the most abundant solar resources. Total accumulated solar PV systems in Gujarat and Rajasthan, two states in the northwestern region, have exceeded 900MW, accounting for 86% of the total installations in India.

Remote areas in India have severe electricity shortages and the country has been relying on fossil fuels to generate electricity. However, this method creates high carbon emissions, hence the government in India set a goal in 2009 to reduce the country's carbon emissions by 20-25% in 2020 compared to 2005 levels. Through the three stages of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the country hopes to have on-grid installations of 20GW by 2022, according to Digitimes Research.

Feed-in-tariff and renewable energy certificates have been helping India to expand its solar market. In first-half 2012, the country's total cumulative installations reached beyond 1GW. The second stage of the plan will begin in 2013 and the country expects to add 4-10GW of installations within four years.

India's government has achieved the target set for the first stage of the JNNSM, but installation costs have remained high. In addition, the local supply chain has yet to grow to maturity, hence the country has been relying heavily on imports. To protect is infant industry, India recently announced plans to conduct an anti-dumping investigation against solar firms from China and Taiwan. This will add barriers to solar market growth.

India's US$1.4 billion solar plan thwarted by supply delays, dust (November 15) - Business Week

India reprots 1.1 GW solar pipeline; draft tariffs released (November 13) - PV Magazine