How 'SHANTI Bill 2025' Secures India's Future Energy Demands?
Parliament has passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, a landmark law that opens the country’s tightly controlled civil nuclear sector to private and foreign investment for the first time since independence.
Rajya Sabha has cleared the bill with a voice vote, defeating opposition demands to refer it to a parliamentary standing committee for further discussions. The bill will turn into an Act once it gets the President’s assent.
PM Narendra Modi has hailed the bill for its transformational capacity to India’s clean energy and global leadership in AI and green manufacturing. The Prime Minister said on X, “My gratitude to MPs who have supported its passage. From safely powering AI to enabling green manufacturing, it delivers a decisive boost to a clean-energy future for the country and the world. It also opens numerous opportunities for the private sector and our youth. This is the ideal time to invest, innovate, and build in India”.
Reportedly, the SHANTI Bill aims to supercharge India’s clean energy transition. It also enables India to scale from 8.9 GW of nuclear capacity to 100 GW by 2047, requiring investments worth Rs 19.3 trillion ($214 billion).
The minister of state for Atomic Energy, Jitendra Singh, said in Parliament that nuclear energy will provide a steady 24*7 source of energy, unlike some other renewable sources.
The bill aims to fulfill energy demands driven by industrial growth, data centres, and urban expansion, amid other carbon-free power sources, unlike solar or wind, which are intermittent. Notably, India’s electricity demand stands at nearly 366 GW by 2030 and require a massive scale-up in clean energy. India’s share in global primary energy consumption is projected to double by 2035.
However, apart from aiming at the ambitious energy requirements, the bill also restructures the entire nuclear governance system, with licensing, regulation, liability, and dispute resolution into one statute.
The bill allows Indian private firms to construct, possess, and manage civil nuclear facilities. Foreign entities will also take part through joint ventures or partnerships.
Under this bill, the operator’s liability is capped, and the government can establish a Nuclear Liability Fund to cover additional claims that go beyond the limit. Suppliers are protected from liability, unless their contracts specify otherwise.
