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Indian Akshay Urja Day is observed every year on 20 August to build public awareness of renewable energy; 'Akshay Urja' means inexhaustible energy.
It was instituted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2004 and is also called Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Diwas, the date being Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary.
India's installed renewable energy capacity stood at 288.58 GW as on 30 June 2026, against 76.38 GW in 2014.
Solar leads with 162.15 GW, followed by wind at 57.44 GW, large hydro at 57.24 GW and bio power at 11.75 GW.
India ranks third in the world in renewable energy installed capacity in IRENA's Renewable Energy Statistics 2026, having overtaken Brazil.
Install rooftop solar systems in one crore households and supply free electricity up to 300 units a month
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet with an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore; launched by the Prime Minister on 13 February 2024
Reach 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030
Key: Announced by the Prime Minister at COP26; the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is the implementing ministry
Installed capacity measures the maximum output a plant could deliver if it ran flat out; generation measures the electricity it actually produced. Solar and wind run only when the sun shines or the wind blows, so their capacity utilisation factor is far lower than that of a coal or nuclear plant. This is why India's renewable share of installed capacity is much larger than its renewable share of electricity generated - a distinction examiners test regularly by quoting one figure and asking about the other.
Simple Analogy: A car's top speed of 200 km an hour is its capacity; the 40 km an hour you average through city traffic is your generation.
The 500 GW non-fossil capacity target for 2030 is one of the five Panchamrit pledges India announced at COP26 in Glasgow.
India's solar-led renewable push runs in parallel with the ISA, co-founded by India and headquartered at Gurugram.
The same date, 20 August, is observed as Sadbhavana Diwas, also because it is Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary.
GS Paper III > Infrastructure - Energy; Environment > Conservation and climate change commitments
General Awareness > Important Days and Indian Economy - Energy
General Awareness > Important Days and Government Schemes
General Awareness > Important Days and General Science - Energy sources
Literally 'inexhaustible energy'; the Hindi term used in India for renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal.
Installed electricity generating capacity from sources other than coal, oil and gas - it includes renewables plus large hydro and nuclear, which is why it is a larger number than renewable capacity alone.
International Renewable Energy Agency, which publishes the annual Renewable Energy Statistics used to rank countries by installed renewable capacity.