Private Firms Could Invest ₹7.5 Lakh Crore and Add 30 GW of Nuclear Power by 2047, Says AEC Chief
Atomic Energy Commission chairman Ajit Kumar Mohanty expects private companies to invest about ₹7.5 lakh crore and contribute 30 GW to India's 100 GW nuclear goal, with a couple of private operators running reactors within five years.
India's nuclear power programme has been almost entirely state-run for six decades. Its top atomic-energy official now expects that to change within five years. In an interview with PTI published on 11 October 2026, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Ajit Kumar Mohanty said the private sector could invest about ₹7.5 lakh crore (₹7.5 trillion) and contribute roughly 30 GW towards India's target of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047.
"Five years from now, I expect a couple of private sector players to run reactors," Mohanty said, according to ThePrint's report of the interview.
The numbers behind the estimate
The headline figure rests on a simple cost assumption. Mohanty put the cost of nuclear generation capacity at about ₹25 crore per megawatt. At that rate, 30 GW works out to ₹7.5 lakh crore, matching his investment estimate.
That would be a large jump. Reports of the interview put India's installed nuclear capacity at about 8.78 GW today, so the 100 GW goal requires more than an elevenfold expansion in about two decades. According to the reports, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) operates 24 reactors, and another 17 reactors with a combined capacity of around 13 GW are at various stages of implementation.
Business Standard and Swarajya reported that private companies are now assessing reactor technologies, fuel supply arrangements, land requirements and possible partnerships, including with NPCIL and foreign technology providers.
The legal opening: the SHANTI Act
What makes private participation possible is the SHANTI Act, enacted in December 2025. Mohanty said the law opens the sector to public and private entities while keeping sovereign control over sensitive activities. Before it, the Atomic Energy Act reserved reactor operation for government companies, which is why NPCIL has been the country's sole nuclear operator.
The opening has been politically contested. Opposition critics have raised concerns about the law's liability provisions. Analysts also note that the ₹7.5 lakh crore figure is an estimate, and that real private investment will depend on tariff policy and the financial viability of individual projects.
Small reactors for heavy industry
Mohanty also said India is exploring small modular reactors (SMRs) to supply the electricity needs of energy-intensive industries such as steel and cement. That fits the government's wider Nuclear Energy Mission, which aims to have at least five indigenous SMRs operating by 2033. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is developing three designs: the 220 MW Bharat Small Modular Reactor (BSMR-200), the 55 MWe SMR-55, and a 5 MWth high-temperature gas-cooled reactor intended for hydrogen production.
For industrial users, SMRs offer something renewable energy alone struggles to provide: firm, round-the-clock, low-carbon power at a single site. That matters for sectors that face growing pressure to decarbonise, including from carbon border taxes in export markets.
Why it matters for India's energy transition
Nuclear power is the one large-scale source of carbon-free electricity that does not depend on weather. As India adds hundreds of gigawatts of solar and wind, it will need firm capacity to balance the grid, and nuclear power is one of the few options for that at scale. The country's three-stage nuclear programme also passed a long-awaited milestone this year, when the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam achieved first criticality on 6 April 2026.
Private capital could speed up construction, which has historically been limited by NPCIL's balance sheet and execution capacity. It could also bring new engineering, procurement and project-management capability into a sector where delays and cost overruns have long been common.
What to watch
The signals to watch are the first formal private applications to build or operate reactors, the rules that set out how private operators will be licensed and regulated, any joint-venture announcements with NPCIL, and tariff frameworks that make nuclear power bankable. Mohanty's five-year timeline is ambitious for an industry where construction alone usually takes several years. Whether the first private reactors appear on that schedule will be an early test of the SHANTI Act.
Sources
- Business Standard: https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/private-sector-may-invest-7-5-trillion-in-nuke-sector-add-30-gw-by-2047-126101100150_1.html
- ThePrint (PTI): https://theprint.in/india/rs-7-5-lakh-cr-pvt-investment-likely-in-nuke-sector-30-gw-contribution-by-2047-aec-chief-mohanty/3068174/
- Swarajya: https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/private-firms-to-add-30-gw-nuclear-capacity-with-75-trillion-investment-by-2047-says-aec-chief
- Channel IAM: https://en.channeliam.com/2026/10/12/india-nuclear-power-private-investment/
- Enerdata (SMR programme): https://www.enerdata.net/publications/daily-energy-news/india-advances-smr-programme-five-reactors-planned-2033.html
- Wikipedia, Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype_Fast_Breeder_Reactor