India’s clean electricity transition shows steady progress across states, finds the latest IEEFA–Ember SET report

India’s electricity transition at the sub-national level is marked by progress across states, according to the findings of a new joint report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Ember.

The third edition of IEEFA and Ember’s Indian States’ Electricity Transition (SET) report, based on a three-dimensional framework, highlights that while some states are continuing to advance steadily in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, others have built momentum and a strong foundation for rapid progress. The uneven progress is owing to differences in resources, development priorities and institutional capacities.

Vibhuti Garg, Director – South Asia, IEEFA, and a co-author of the report, stated, “All the 21 states assessed have advanced on multiple fronts, even as the pace and areas of focus vary.”

She further added, “Such divergence is inevitable at the sub-national level given the structural and historical factors, including differences in resource endowment, development legacies, states’ fiscal and economic conditions, rural-urban composition and institutional capacity within the power sector. Going forward, understanding these state-level differences and gaps in progress is essential for designing targeted policies and interventions.”

Co-author Ruchita Shah, Energy Analyst, Ember, says, “India’s electricity transition is maturing into a multi-speed transition, where instead of a single leader across all areas, we are witnessing new leaders in specific areas. This requires a more targeted approach to policies and interventions to ensure the momentum is evenly spread.”

Despite a change in methodology for SET 2026, including a recalibrated mode of measurement for the capacity addition parameter and the inclusion of hydro capacity, Karnataka remained a top performer in the decarbonisation dimension of the report. Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, too, did well in this dimension that tracks states’ progress in expanding renewable electricity and decoupling economic growth from emissions. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan improved their performance in this dimension owing to their energy efficiency interventions, reflected in their State Energy Efficiency Index (SEEI) 2024 scores.

The readiness and performance of the power ecosystem dimension, which assesses the distributed solar adoption, power supply reliability and DISCOM performance of the states, incorporated stakeholder feedback to strengthen the assessment parameters. These changes better align the dimension with the current realities.

Even after incorporating the changes to the parameters, Delhi and Haryana continued to perform strongly. Robust distributed solar adoption in these states, alongside reliable power supply and relatively sound DISCOM performance supported their performance. Chhattisgarh and Bihar, too, stood out in this dimension due to improvements in their DISCOM performance since the SET 2024 analysis. In FY2025, Chhattisgarh recorded a negligible power supply shortage of 0.07 percent, while Bihar recorded the highest percentage of progress in smart metre deployment (78 percent of its sanctioned metres) under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) as of March 2025. Assam, too, emerged as a notable performer, completing installation of 46 percent of its sanctioned smart metres under RDSS.

Co-author Saloni Sachdeva Michael, Clean Energy Specialist, IEEFA, said, “For states with potential to improve on this dimension, targeted reforms could unlock faster progress. Strengthening DISCOM finances, ensuring timely subsidies, adopting cost-reflective tariffs and enhancing billing and collection through digitisation and smart metering will help reduce risk perception and enable DISCOMs to scale renewable energy procurement effectively.”

The final dimension, market enablers, examines state initiatives supporting adoption of EVs and green hydrogen and measures like green tariffs and energy storage to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. There are also changes in the parameters of this dimension compared to SET 2024.

The changes result in significant movement from 2024. Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are now the strongest performers in this dimension. Their performance was supported by updated renewable energy policies, adoption of green tariffs and solar-hour-aligned time-of-day (ToD) tariffs. Uttar Pradesh demonstrated strong momentum in EV deployment, while Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan also made moderate progress in this area.

Delhi recorded the highest EV adoption rate at 11.6 percent, while Assam followed closely with a strong 11 percent adoption rate in FY2025, reflecting notable progress. Assam also has an active renewable energy policy along with solar-hour-aligned ToD tariffs.

Bihar, too, is on the rise in this dimension. It introduced a green tariff provision for FY2026 and created a conducive policy environment for renewable energy (targeting around 24 gigawatts [GW] by FY2030) and EV adoption (8.2 percent in FY2025). It also offered a ToD tariff mechanism. While the state does not yet have operational energy storage capacity, it has made efforts via auctions to integrate storage into its portfolio. It can also now build momentum on its draft green hydrogen policy and accelerate its transition by utilising more of its renewable potential and increasing clean power procurement.

“States such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan need to strengthen DISCOM operations, boost short-term market participation, expand distributed solar and smart metres deployment to better prepare their power ecosystem for the transition. On the other hand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh need to accelerate mobility transitions, deploy energy storage capacities and strengthen ToD tariff and green tariff mechanisms to progress on their transition journeys,” Ruchita Shah adds.

Meanwhile, West Bengal, Telangana and Jharkhand are among the states that remained in the early stages of transition. “These states face structural barriers and will require foundational interventions, like institutional capacity building, improved DISCOM finances, updated planning frameworks and clear and long-term policy signals, to transition effectively,” says co-author Tanya Rana, Energy Analyst, IEEFA.