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India added two small-scale spherical tokamaks to its fusion research base in 2026.
Pragya, built by Bengaluru-based Pranos Fusion, is India's first privately developed tokamak; it was completed on 21 August 2026 and launched on 3 September 2026.
The Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, completed integration of its own compact spherical tokamak on 23 August 2026 and achieved first plasma on 30 August 2026.
By 7 September 2026 IPR scientists had carried out 114 plasma discharges on that machine.
India's existing fusion infrastructure includes the ADITYA-U tokamak and SST-1 at IPR, and a 9% stake in the ITER project in France.
A tokamak uses powerful magnetic fields to hold a ring of superheated ionised gas, or plasma, away from the walls of its chamber so that fusion conditions can be studied. A spherical tokamak squeezes that ring into a more compact, apple-like shape.
Simple Analogy: A magnetic bottle holding a gas far too hot to touch anything.
India's principal plasma and fusion research institute; it operates the ADITYA-U and SST-1 tokamaks and built its own compact spherical tokamak in 2026
Private fusion startup that built Pragya, India's first privately developed tokamak; co-incubated at IPR and at JNCASR
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the world's largest fusion experiment, in which India holds a 9% stake alongside the EU, US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea
Pranos Fusion raises USD 6.8 million, taking its total funding to about USD 7.22 million
Pragya, India's first privately developed tokamak, is completed
IPR completes mechanical and electrical integration of its own compact spherical tokamak
The IPR machine achieves first plasma
Pragya is formally launched
IPR reports 114 plasma discharges completed on the new machine
IPR is at Bhat near Gandhinagar in Gujarat, where ADITYA-U and SST-1 also operate. Pranos Fusion is based in Bengaluru. ITER is under construction at Saint-Paul-lez-Durance in southern France.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Developments and their applications; energy
General Awareness > Science and Technology
India is an important member of the 'International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor'. If this experiment succeeds, what is the immediate advantage for India?
Answer: It can build fusion reactors for power generation
A doughnut-shaped device that uses magnetic fields to confine plasma for fusion research
The milestone at which ionised gas is successfully created and confined inside a fusion device for the first time
The magnetic field running the long way around the tokamak's ring, measured in tesla