ALMM List-II is now in force — and MNRE revised it three times in August alone

The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) is the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's eligibility register for solar equipment used in government-supported projects. It has been quietly reshaping what can be installed on Indian rooftops, and 2026 is the year the second layer took effect.

Three lists, three layers of the supply chain

• List-I covers finished solar modules. It has been in effect since 2021.
• List-II covers solar cells — the components inside those modules. Its first version was released in July 2025.
• List-III will cover wafers and ingots.

Since 1 June 2026, projects within ALMM's scope must use modules from List-I and those modules must be built using cells from manufacturers on List-II. Both conditions, not either.

List-III is scheduled to apply to new project bids from 1 June 2028, and MNRE has said the wafer list will only be issued once at least three independent wafer manufacturing facilities are operating in India with a combined annual capacity of at least 15 GW. Once the first List-III is published, bids submitted more than seven days later must specify List-III-compliant wafers.

August 2026 was a busy month

MNRE's notices in a three-week window show how actively the framework is being maintained:

• 3 August 2026 — updated List-I under the ALMM order for solar PV modules
• 3 August 2026 — request for comments on proposed standardised nomenclature for solar PV cell models under List-II
• 4 August 2026 — ALMM List-II for solar PV cells: clarification
• 21 August 2026 — ninth revision of ALMM List-II for solar PV cells

A ninth revision of a list first published in July 2025 tells you something useful on its own: List-II membership is not static. A manufacturer on the list today may not have been on it three months ago, and models are added and amended as capacity is enlisted.

Reported alongside these, MNRE's clarification addressed rooftop solar on government buildings, stating that projects awarded through bidding after 31 August 2025, or commissioned on or after 1 June 2026, must use List-II cells unless they hold an approved exemption.

Which schemes ALMM applies to

ALMM's domestic-content requirements attach to specific government-supported programmes rather than to all solar in India. These include the CPSU Scheme Phase-II, PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana for rooftop solar, and PM-KUSUM for agricultural and off-grid solar.

A privately funded commercial rooftop system taking no government support sits outside this framework. A subsidised residential rooftop system does not.

DCR and ALMM are related but not identical

"DCR" — domestic content requirement — and "ALMM listed" are frequently used as if they were the same thing. They describe different tests. ALMM asks whether a specific model from a specific manufacturer appears on a ministry list. A domestic content requirement asks where the content was made.

Two consequences follow, and both matter when reading a quotation:

• A manufacturer being Indian does not by itself make a particular model ALMM-listed. Listing is model-level.
• A module being ALMM List-I listed does not, since 1 June 2026, complete the test on its own. The cells inside it must also come from a List-II manufacturer.

What this means for a household

If you are installing under PM Surya Ghar, compliance is not optional and it is not yours to arrange — but it is yours to verify.

Ask for the module make and model, in writing, in the quotation. Not "540 W mono PERC" — the manufacturer and the model number, which is what appears on ALMM.

Ask the vendor to confirm the cells are from a List-II manufacturer. Since 1 June 2026 this is part of the eligibility test for the system, and a vendor supplying into the scheme should be able to answer without hesitation.

Be sceptical of a quotation that names no model at all, or that names one and delivers another. MNRE has separately tightened PM Surya Ghar rules to address module supply discrepancies, which indicates the substitution problem is real enough for the ministry to act on.

Note what ALMM does not tell you. It is an eligibility list, not a quality ranking. A listed model is permitted, not certified as better than another listed model.

Sources and references

Official government notices.

• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — "Current Notices", listing "9th Revision of ALMM List-II for Solar PV Cells – dated 21.08.2026", "ALMM List-II for solar PV cells: Clarification – reg." (4 August 2026), "Updated (03.08.2026) List-I under ALMM order for Solar PV Modules", and "Request for comments on the proposed standardized nomenclature for Solar PV Cell Models under ALMM List-II" (3 August 2026), mnre.gov.in. Accessed 23 August 2026.
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — "Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM)", mnre.gov.in. Accessed 23 August 2026.

Independent trade reporting.

• pv magazine International — "India extends solar manufacturing mandate to wafers and ingots", 19 March 2026, pv-magazine.com. Source for the List-III framework, the 1 June 2028 date and the three-facility / 15 GW condition. Accessed 23 August 2026.
• pv magazine India — "Government sets seven-day cut-off for ALMM wafer compliance", 19 March 2026, pv-magazine-india.com. Accessed 23 August 2026.
• Mercom India — "Daily News Wrap-Up: MNRE Clarifies ALMM-II Norms for Government Rooftop Solar Projects", mercomindia.com. Source for the government-building bidding and commissioning cut-offs. Accessed 23 August 2026.
• Saur Energy — "MNRE Tightens PM Surya Ghar Rules to Curb Module Supply Discrepancies", saurenergy.com. Accessed 23 August 2026.

A note on scope. This article does not state whether any particular manufacturer or model is currently listed. ALMM lists are revised frequently — nine times for List-II since July 2025 — and any specific listing quoted here would be out of date before most readers saw it. Check the current list on the MNRE page above.

ISB interpretation. The distinction drawn between ALMM listing and domestic content requirements, and the verification guidance in the final section, are Indian Solar Bazar's own analysis.