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The Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) welcomes the Union Budget 2026 as a decisive step towards building a resilient, domestic-first wind manufacturing ecosystem in line with the upcoming ALMM framework. Together, the customs changes, SEZ facilitation and legacy support measures provide much-needed policy visibility for OEMs, component suppliers and project developers planning investments through 2030.
Customs support for critical components
- The Budget extends the concessional 5 per cent Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on key wind turbine components—special bearings, gearboxes, yaw components, controllers and blade inputs such as balsa wood and carbon fibre—up to 31st March 2028.
- The inclusion of forged steel rings for manufacture of special bearings in the same 5 percent BCD schedule (Sl. No. 230) directly addresses a long-standing bottleneck in indigenizing main-shaft bearings, a critical requirement for ALMM-compliant machines.
National Manufacturing Mandate + SEZ- DTA duty : towards a deeper localization framework
- By explicitly bringing the wind turbine ecosystem under the National Manufacturing Mandate, the government has sent a clear signal that wind is a strategic manufacturing priority, not just a capacity-addition target.
- Complementing this, Budget 2026 introduces a special one-time window for eligible SEZ manufacturing units to sell into the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) at concessional rates of duty, with quantities capped as a proportion of exports.
IWTMA sees these two measures as mutually reinforcing under the NMM:
- SEZ-to-DTA concessional duty effectively avoids taxation on value added inside SEZs and allows Indian wind component manufacturers to utilize idle capacity for domestic orders without prohibitive duty costs.
- Treated as part of the NMM toolkit, this can catalyze new investments in high-value components—bearings, power electronics, advanced blades and towers—inside both SEZs and the DTA, while maintaining a level playing field with purely domestic units.
Grid integration push and Storage for a reliable grid: System-level enablers - Higher capital expenditure outlays for transmission and evacuation infrastructure strengthen the grid integration.
- Total Capex is budgeted to rise to ₹12.22 lakh crore in 2026-27, with energy sector allocations increasing from about ₹80,000 crore in 2025-26 to over
₹1.09 lakh crore in 2026-27, supporting transmission upgrades, new evacuation corridors and distribution reforms that are essential to absorb higher wind injections
- Extensions of customs exemptions for capital goods used in lithium-ion cell and stationary battery energy-storage manufacturing will lower the cost of wind-solar-storage hybrids and round-the-clock products over time.
Legacy GBI support and bankability
- The Budget provides an outlay of about ₹500 crore to clear pending obligations
under the Generation Based Incentive (GBI) scheme for wind.
- Timely settlement of these dues will stabilize cash flows for operating projects, improve asset quality on lender books and release balance-sheet headroom for repowering and fresh ALMM-compliant capacity.
Chairman IWTMA – Sh. Girish Tanti
“Budget 2026 is a testament to our nation’s resilience and commitment to growth… laying the foundation for a sustainable future. With capital expenditure rising to ₹12.2 lakh crore and strong focus on energy, grid modernization and energy security, this budget clearly accelerates India’s energy transition.”
CEO IWTMA – Sh. Aditya Pyasi
“IWTMA welcomes the Union Budget’s commitment towards doing away with the critical bottlenecks for Wind and RE generation like the enhanced push to grid integration with higher capex provision for green energy corridors and battery integration for Wind-Solar-Hybrid projects and bringing the wind turbine ecosystem under the National Manufacturing Mandate, the government has sent a clear signal that wind is a strategic manufacturing priority, not just a capacity-addition target.
The Association will also work with member OEMs and component manufacturers to map localization pathways for critical parts—especially bearings, blades, generators and power electronics—leveraging the extended 5 percent BCD window, SEZ manufacturing flexibility and upcoming ALMM timelines.”
