# Budget cuts duties on battery and solar manufacturing inputs 2026-08-26T13:28:40+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has removed customs duty on sodium antimonate, used to make solar glass, reducing it from 7.5% to zero. Specified capital goods for lithium-ion cells used in Battery Energy Storage Systems will also be exempted, along with components for nuclear power projects. The Department of Atomic Energy will receive Rs. 38,422 crore, up 2% from the previous year, while atomic energy research gets nearly 8% more at Rs. 10,000 crore. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy allocation rises to nearly Rs. 32,914 crore from Rs. 26,549 crore. The Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana gets Rs. 22,000 crore, up from Rs. 20,000 crore. About 24 lakh households had benefited by December 2025, against the scheme’s target of solar-electrifying one crore households by 2026-27. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Customs exemptions can reduce the cost of imported machinery and selected inputs, but they do not by themselves solve shortages of raw materials, technicians or manufacturing scale. The impact will depend on the detailed budget notifications and how quickly companies expand capacity. The solar household scheme also has a measurable delivery gap between its December 2025 progress and its 2026-27 target. Its next reported beneficiary total will show whether the higher allocation is translating into faster installations. ## Coverage - thehindu.com Straight reporting of duty changes, allocations and official responses This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Department of Atomic Energy, India, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Nirmala Sitharaman, Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/budget-cuts-duties-on-battery-and-solar-manufacturing-inputs/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/budget-cuts-duties-on-battery-and-solar-manufacturing-inputs/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/