India moves closer to opening nuclear power sector to foreign investment as AEC cleared FDI policy: Official | India News
New Delhi: India has moved closer to opening up its nuclear power sector to foreign investment, with the Atomic Energy Commission approving a new foreign direct investment (FDI) framework, an official indicated.Speaking at a workshop in Delhi recently, Seema S Jain, Member (Finance), Department of Atomic Energy, said the policy is part of a larger push for massive funding for nuclear power capacity expansion. “The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has approved the FDI policy, and it is going for ministerial consultation,” he said. He also pointed to the benefits of a “fleet mode” approach, where multiple reactors are built at a single site to speed up approval and construction timelines.India has set a target of increasing its nuclear power capacity to 100 GW by 2047, which will require massive investment. Despite the policy breakthrough, NTPC has witnessed lower-than-expected interest from private companies, indicating challenges in bringing in outside capital. The proposed FDI policy, backed by the recently enacted Peace Act 2025, aims to secure investments of up to Rs 20 lakh crore from foreign players to accelerate construction of nuclear reactors.On December 21 last year, the Act was enacted and notified as a single, coherent law enabling provisions for private sector participation in research and innovation for the peaceful application of nuclear energy under license and security clearance.The main reason behind India’s slow expansion of nuclear power capacity in the early days was the stage of technology development that had to go through an international embargo and technology denial regime, along with limited availability of resources, the Department of Atomic Energy said in a statement recently.
