The same rooftop solar loan takes 12 days at one bank and 44 at another
A government document reviewed by Mint says a rooftop solar loan took 12 days to process and pay out at one bank and 44 at another, and the finance ministry has asked all banks to bring it under 10, from about 17 days at public sector banks and 19 at private banks. For installers, and for homeowners who borrow, that puts the loan at the start of the job, not the end.
What happenedRooftop solar loan processing time by bank, as Mint reported
Mint reported on 9 October 2026 that the finance ministry has asked all banks to process loan applications under PM Surya Ghar, the national rooftop solar scheme, faster. The report, carried by TradingView, draws on a government document Mint reviewed and on two people aware of the development. The ministry wants turnaround, the time taken to process a loan application and pay the money out to the borrower, brought under 10 days. It is now about 17 days at public sector banks and 19 days at private banks, the report says. Whalesbook reported the same ask the same day, for all domestic banks.
Bank by bank, the figures are far apart. In the document Mint reviewed, Punjab National Bank took 12 days, HDFC Bank 21, Central Bank of India 26, Punjab & Sind Bank 28 and IDBI Bank 44. Mint counts HDFC Bank and IDBI Bank among the private banks and the other three among the public sector banks. The report does not say over what period the days were measured, or how many loans each figure covers.
The ministry also wants private banks to lend more under the scheme. The 12 public sector banks had received about 37.8 lakh loan applications under it, and private banks 62,489, with some private lenders in single digits, Mint reported. It also cites official figures: by 24 July, about 21.3 lakh loan applications had been approved and 18.8 lakh loans paid out.
| Bank | Type | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab National Bank | Public sector | 12 |
| HDFC Bank | Private | 21 |
| Central Bank of India | Public sector | 26 |
| Punjab & Sind Bank | Public sector | 28 |
| IDBI Bank | Private | 44 |
| Public sector banks, now | Average | about 17 |
| Private banks, now | Average | about 19 |
| The finance ministry's ask, all banks | Ask | under 10 |
Turnaround: the time taken to process a loan application and pay the money out. From a government document Mint reviewed; Mint does not say over what period the days were measured. Listed by days, not ranked.
What our tracker showsIndia's scheme applications and rooftops, 29 Aug to 16 Oct 2026
Our tracker reads the national PM Surya Ghar portal every day. The portal's public figures count applications, rooftops, households, capacity and subsidy released, but carry nothing on loans: not how many applicants borrow, which bank they use or how long it takes. So our counter cannot show the waits Mint reported, or whether they change.
On the 16 October reading, India had 91,87,432 applications and 52,72,019 rooftops under the scheme, 22,882 and 20,134 more than the day before. Punjab had 29,333 applications and 20,872 rooftops, up 31 and 44; our Punjab tracker has the daily detail.
Since our first reading on 29 August, India has added 12,50,083 applications and 7,22,822 rooftops, about 26,000 and 15,000 a day, so applications not yet rooftops have grown from about 33.9 lakh to about 39.2 lakh. That gap is not a count of loans waiting at banks. It holds every application still at some step: the DISCOM's feasibility check, the choice of vendor, the loan, the installation, the inspection and the meter, as well as any that were dropped. The portal does not split it.
One rough comparison, our own arithmetic and not a portal figure: the two loan counts in Mint's report add up to about 38.4 lakh. Mint's report came out on 9 October, and our reading that day had 89,97,707 scheme applications, so that is about 43 loan applications for every 100 scheme applications. Read it as about 4 in 10 applicants also applying for a loan, and no more precisely than that: Mint's count carries no date, and one household may apply at more than one bank.
Source: Solentra's daily readings of the PM Surya Ghar national portal (pmsuryaghar.gov.in), 29 August to 16 October 2026, in lakh. No reading was saved on 1 September. The portal publishes no loan figures: the space between the lines is every application not yet a rooftop, at any step, not a count of loans waiting at banks.
See the numbers
| Reading | Applications | Rooftops |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Aug 2026 | 79.37 | 45.49 |
| 30 Aug 2026 | 79.58 | 45.64 |
| 31 Aug 2026 | 79.67 | 45.68 |
| 2 Sep 2026 | 80.11 | 46.09 |
| 3 Sep 2026 | 80.36 | 46.28 |
| 4 Sep 2026 | 80.62 | 46.45 |
| 5 Sep 2026 | 80.79 | 46.58 |
| 6 Sep 2026 | 81.01 | 46.72 |
| 7 Sep 2026 | 81.11 | 46.77 |
| 8 Sep 2026 | 81.4 | 46.94 |
| 9 Sep 2026 | 81.69 | 47.13 |
| 10 Sep 2026 | 81.96 | 47.3 |
| 11 Sep 2026 | 82.22 | 47.47 |
| 12 Sep 2026 | 82.45 | 47.63 |
| 13 Sep 2026 | 82.68 | 47.76 |
| 14 Sep 2026 | 82.78 | 47.8 |
| 15 Sep 2026 | 82.95 | 47.9 |
| 16 Sep 2026 | 82.88 | 48.06 |
| 17 Sep 2026 | 83.1 | 48.22 |
| 18 Sep 2026 | 83.3 | 48.37 |
| 19 Sep 2026 | 83.52 | 48.54 |
| 20 Sep 2026 | 83.75 | 48.69 |
| 21 Sep 2026 | 83.86 | 48.74 |
| 22 Sep 2026 | 84.17 | 48.91 |
| 23 Sep 2026 | 84.54 | 49.09 |
| 24 Sep 2026 | 84.94 | 49.22 |
| 25 Sep 2026 | 85.32 | 49.4 |
| 26 Sep 2026 | 85.52 | 49.53 |
| 27 Sep 2026 | 85.78 | 49.66 |
| 28 Sep 2026 | 85.89 | 49.72 |
| 29 Sep 2026 | 86.24 | 49.9 |
| 30 Sep 2026 | 86.62 | 50.08 |
| 1 Oct 2026 | 87.01 | 50.28 |
| 2 Oct 2026 | 87.36 | 50.46 |
| 3 Oct 2026 | 87.64 | 50.59 |
| 4 Oct 2026 | 88.12 | 50.75 |
| 5 Oct 2026 | 88.42 | 50.81 |
| 6 Oct 2026 | 88.79 | 51 |
| 7 Oct 2026 | 89.2 | 51.18 |
| 8 Oct 2026 | 89.58 | 51.36 |
| 9 Oct 2026 | 89.98 | 51.55 |
| 10 Oct 2026 | 90.32 | 51.73 |
| 11 Oct 2026 | 90.59 | 51.88 |
| 12 Oct 2026 | 90.71 | 51.93 |
| 13 Oct 2026 | 91.05 | 52.12 |
| 14 Oct 2026 | 91.35 | 52.32 |
| 15 Oct 2026 | 91.65 | 52.52 |
| 16 Oct 2026 | 91.87 | 52.72 |
What it could mean for IndiaWhat loan waits could mean for rooftop solar in India
For a household that borrows, the choice of bank alone could add or save up to about a month: across the five banks Mint named, the same kind of loan took between 12 and 44 days. Vivek Iyer of Grant Thornton Bharat, quoted by Mint, says slow loan payouts keep households from installing on time, and Whalesbook makes the same point about installers' projects. Where a household waits on its loan, a long wait at the bank could push back the day the panels go up.
On our rough arithmetic, about 4 in 10 applicants also apply for a loan, and the portal has added about 26,000 applications a day since 29 August. So days saved or lost at the banks could add up across lakhs of households. If banks meet the ask of under 10 days, the wait at a public sector bank could drop from about 17 days to under 10, a week or more saved; the report does not say how or when the ministry plans to check.
Private banks could widen the choice. On Mint's counts, private banks hold fewer than 2 in every 100 of the scheme's loan applications (62,489 of about 38.4 lakh, our arithmetic). If more private banks lend under the scheme, as the ministry wants, a household could have more places to apply, though Mint puts private banks' turnaround now at about 19 days, against about 17 at public sector banks. The report does not say why private banks have so few, and we do not know.
Our counter may not show any of this for some time: a change in loan waits could show up, if at all, only as a small change in how fast applications become rooftops, and that pace could move for many other reasons, from the season to DISCOM work.
What it means for youWhen to start the solar loan, for installers and homeowners
If you are an installer: get the customer registered on the national portal and open the loan file the day they say yes, at signing. Ask which bank the customer uses, and get an expected date from the branch in writing. Mint's report puts the same kind of loan at 12 days at one bank and 44 at another, so build the branch's date into the installation date you give the customer.
If you are a dealer: ask your installers which jobs are waiting on a loan before they book stock for them. On Mint's figures, the loan alone can take weeks at some banks.
If you are a homeowner and plan to borrow: apply on the national portal, then start the loan straight away, before the rest of the job is arranged, so the bank's days run alongside it. At the branch, ask how many days they expect. You can mention that the finance ministry has asked all banks to bring turnaround under 10 days, as Mint reported on 9 October 2026; that is the ministry's ask, not a promise from your branch.
If you want someone to look at your roof: Solentra does rooftop work in the Tricity through partner installers. Solentra does not arrange loans; your bank handles the loan. Message us on WhatsApp for a site visit, and follow the scheme numbers every day on our tracker.
Sources
- Mint, via TradingView News, Finance ministry flags slow bank loan processing, low private lender participation in Rs.75,000 crore rooftop solar scheme, .
- Whalesbook, Finance Ministry Orders 10-Day Limit for Solar Loan Processing, .
- MNRE, National Portal for Rooftop Solar, PM Surya Ghar national portal, read daily by Solentra since 29 Aug 2026, .
The Solar Brief puts public reports in our own words and reads them against Solentra's own daily record of the PM Surya Ghar national portal. Where we say what something could mean, that is our reading, not a forecast. Nothing here is financial, loan or legal advice.
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