Solar Panel Price in India 2026: Per Watt, Brand, Wattage

Solar panel price in India is not one number. For a useful budget, separate module-only price, installed system cost before subsidy, and your amount after approved subsidy.

Official-store and retailer listings checked on 14 October 2026 span ₹18.18/W to ₹40.74/W, from a Loom Solar 550 W mono PERC pack at ₹10,000 per panel to a Luminous 540 W DCR mono PERC module at ₹22,000, depending on technology, DCR status and seller. Bulk ex-works prices tracked by JMK Research sit far lower, at ₹13.8 to ₹22.3 per Wp in April 2026. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) publishes a whole-system benchmark of ₹50,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹45,000 for each additional kW. That benchmark is not a fixed installer tariff.

Qbits Energy makes solar inverters. It does not sell solar panels or installation. Every panel figure below comes from the named manufacturer, retailer or research firm, and none is a Qbits price or a project quote.

The three prices buyers should not mix

The scheme benchmark comes from the current MNRE residential CFA guidelines. The guidelines also say the consumer chooses a registered rooftop-solar vendor at mutually decided rates, with no tendering or rate discovery by DISCOMs. The benchmark is a planning and subsidy reference. Your contract price is negotiated.

Solar panel price per watt in India 2026: by technology

Price per watt equals the displayed module price divided by its rated wattage. Retail rows use displayed selling prices, not crossed-out MRPs, and show whether the page states that taxes are included. Prices vary by city, seller and quantity, and the bulk figures are a different price point from a single-panel retail purchase, so read the columns separately.

Sources for the bulk column: the JMK Research April 2026 monthly update. JMK states these as domestic module prices and does not track bifacial separately.

Retail listings checked on 14 October 2026 unless a row states another date. Polycrystalline modules have no row because we found no current dated store listing for them. Mono PERC bifacial has no row of its own because only one dated retailer listing turned up: Loom Solar’s 550 W bifacial pack of 2 at ₹22,000, or ₹20.00/W, about ₹1.82/W above the same retailer’s monofacial 550 W pack at ₹18.18/W.

The table shows why a single “price per watt” misleads. A TOPCon bifacial module can list below a mono PERC module from the same store, and the DCR label moves the price more than the cell technology does.

Panel prices by wattage: 540 W to 620 W

Wattage is the second axis buyers search by. The rows below group named listings checked on 14 October 2026; “tax” notes whether the page says the price includes taxes.

Sources: Waaree store, Luminous store, Loom Solar and Enlead Energy.

Two things stand out. First, one brand’s 540 W to 550 W DCR panels ranged from ₹11,534 to ₹22,000 across SKUs, so the wattage on the label tells you little about the price. Second, we found no current, dated listing for 400 W to 500 W modules; the ones that turned up were old, sold out or clearance stock, so the table starts at 540 W.

The 540 to 550 W class is a common choice for residential arrays. The 600 W and higher class cuts the module count for a given capacity, which suits larger roofs. Check each datasheet for weight and dimensions, because both affect structure design and handling.

Brand-by-brand solar panel prices

The table gives one dated example per brand from a store or retailer page. It is not a ranking. Technology, DCR status and tax treatment differ between rows.

Tata Power Solar and Goldi Solar publish no retail panel price on their own sites that we could find on 14 October 2026, and the marketplace listings we saw were undated or old, so they have no row. Re-check them against a current quote rather than a stale price list. The 12 and 30 year Adani labels also appear in the 550 W datasheet reviewed in our Waaree vs Adani comparison, which sets the two brands’ exact models, documents and inverter compatibility side by side.

A headline warranty duration does not show the remedy, exclusions, claim evidence or who pays for labour and transport. Ask for the warranty document for the exact model in your quote.

DCR vs non-DCR: the price gap that matters

DCR stands for domestic content requirement: modules made from domestically manufactured cells. Same-brand, same-wattage listings show what the label costs.

The Waaree pair compares a store price that includes taxes with a retailer price whose tax status is not stated, so treat that gap as indicative. The Adani pairs come from one retailer. Sources: Enlead Energy, the Waaree store and JMK Research.

If you want no central subsidy, such as on a larger commercial array, DCR is a cost decision rather than a compliance one. Confirm that choice with your DISCOM and installer before you buy.

Mono PERC vs TOPCon vs bifacial: is the premium worth it?

Every panel technology trades price against output. There is no universal winner, only the right module for your roof and budget.

Mono PERC versus TOPCon on price. On non-DCR modules the gap is small. JMK Research recorded ₹13.8/Wp for mono PERC and ₹14.2/Wp for TOPCon in April 2026, a difference of ₹0.40/Wp. At retail, Waaree’s 615 W TOPCon bifacial module listed at ₹18.53/W against ₹18.73/W for its 550 W mono PERC module. The technology label alone does not set the price.

The roof-constrained case. What matters is watts per square metre of module area. A Waaree 550 W mono PERC module measures 227.2 cm by 113.3 cm, about 2.57 square metres, which is about 214 W per square metre. When roof area limits the array, a module with a higher figure fits more capacity into the same space. Compare the exact dimensions and rated power in each datasheet, because wattage alone does not tell you the area.

Bifacial. A bifacial module can collect light on its rear face, but any gain depends on mounting height, rear shading and the reflectance of the surface below. A flush-mounted array on a dark roof and an elevated array over a light surface are different installations. At the one retailer where we found both, the bifacial mono PERC 550 W pack cost ₹1.82/W more than the monofacial one. Ask the installer to state the rear-gain assumption in writing; do not accept a percentage with no basis.

Design comes first. Tilt, shading, string layout and inverter sizing all affect annual generation, and a quote should state them. Settle the design before you pay a premium for a module label.

GST on solar panels: what you pay

Panels fall under entry 437 of Schedule I of CBIC Notification 9/2025-Integrated Tax (Rate), dated 17 September 2025. Item (h) of that entry names photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled in modules or made up into panels. The Schedule I rate is 5%, and the notification came into force on 22 September 2025. A 5% rate applies to a standalone module purchase.

For a full-system contract that supplies the modules along with other goods and the taxable installation service, the Explanation to entry 437 deems 70% of the gross consideration to be goods and 30% to be that service. If the service portion is taxed at 18%, the blended rate is 0.7 × 5% + 0.3 × 18% = 8.9% on the contract value. That blend is arithmetic on stated rates, not a rate printed on your invoice. The solar GST guide, GST on solar inverters and panels, sets out the entry-by-entry treatment, the HSN codes and the invoice details to check, and notes that components sold separately can attract a different rate.

Before 22 September 2025 the rate on these goods was 12%, so a printed price list or tax table from before that date overstates the tax. Ask the vendor for tax line by line and the notification number they rely on.

Why panel prices moved in 2026

Only two drivers are sourced here, and neither is a forecast.

Price movement. JMK Research’s April 2026 update recorded domestic mono PERC at ₹13.8/Wp and TOPCon at ₹14.2/Wp, each down 3% on the month, with DCR TOPCon at ₹22.3/Wp. Its July 2026 update reported non-DCR TOPCon and mono PERC stable, and DCR TOPCon up 3.17% on the month. JMK’s pages do not give a cause for the domestic moves, so we do not assign one.

Cell-level policy. MNRE’s ALMM covers modules in List-I and cells in List-II. MNRE’s ALMM page shows the first List-II issued on 31 July 2025 and a 12th revision dated 8 October 2026, which we checked on 14 October 2026. Energetica India reported the MNRE amendment requiring List-II cells for net-metering and open-access projects commissioned on or after 1 June 2026. MNRE has issued later exemptions and clarifications for some project types, covered in our net-metering ALMM List-II exemption post. Check the current MNRE order for your category. The PM Surya Ghar DCR condition is separate and stated in the CFA guidelines.

ALMM lists modules and cells. MNRE publishes no ALMM list for inverters.

Panels inside the full system cost

A module is one line of a system bill. The table uses the MNRE benchmark for the gross total, the module-only subtotal from the listings above, and a manufacturer-listed on-grid inverter price. The last row is arithmetic: what is left of the benchmark for structure, wiring, installation, metering and margin.

The inverter row comes from Waaree’s store listing for its single-phase on-grid 3 kW and 5 kW inverters, checked on 14 October 2026; the page does not state whether tax is included. It is one brand’s price, not a market range. Benchmark arithmetic: 3 kWp is (2 × ₹50,000) + (1 × ₹45,000); 5 kWp is (2 × ₹50,000) + (3 × ₹45,000). At the top of the DCR module range, the 3 kWp modules and inverter together take about 86% of the benchmark, which shows how much module choice moves the rest of the quote.

Your amount after CFA is the gross invoice plus excluded charges, minus the approved CFA, and the CFA is processed only after installation, documentation and DISCOM inspection. For capacity-specific cost breakdowns, see the 1 kW, 3 kW, 5 kW and 10 kW system guides.

A complete installed quote should separate at least seven numbers. If the vendor gives only a total and a post-subsidy amount, ask for the missing lines.

A battery belongs on an eighth, separate line. Adding storage changes the inverter architecture, protection, usable backup energy and total cost. An ordinary on-grid system does not power the home during a grid outage simply because panels are installed.

Choosing panels to match your inverter

Module choice and inverter choice are one electrical design. The array’s voltage and current must fall inside the inverter’s MPPT input window across the temperature range the roof sees.

The installer must check cold-weather open-circuit voltage, hot-weather operating voltage, current and permitted photovoltaic input against the exact module and inverter datasheets. The string-sizing calculator is a useful first check, but the datasheets control the final design. Higher-wattage modules often carry a higher operating current, so a module that fits one inverter’s MPPT current limit may not fit another’s.

Pairing also covers capacity. Rated DC module capacity drives the CFA, while the inverter’s AC rating is a separate number, and an array larger than the inverter’s rating is a design choice with its own limits. If you are choosing the inverter side of the system, start from the on-grid inverter range and confirm the exact model’s input limits against your chosen modules.

Before accepting a solar quote