Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant

New Delhi: India is moving 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 broader effort to mobilize large-scale financing to increase nuclear power capacity. “The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) has approved the FDI policy and it is going for ministerial consultation,” he said. He also pointed to the advantages of a “fleet mode” approach, where multiple reactors are developed at the same site to speed up approval and construction timelines.India aims to increase its nuclear power capacity to 100 GW by 2047, which will require massive investment. Despite policy progress, NTPC has seen lower than expected interest from private companies, indicating challenges in bringing in external capital. The proposed FDI policy, backed by the recently enacted Peace Act 2025, aims to garner investments of up to Rs 20 lakh crore from foreign players to accelerate the construction of nuclear reactors.On December 21 last year, the Act was enacted and notified as a single, coherent law, with provisions for private sector participation to drive research and innovations for peaceful applications of nuclear energy under licensing and safety authorisation.The Department of Atomic Energy said in a recent statement that the main reason for the slow expansion of nuclear power capacity in India in the initial days was the technology development stage, coupled with limited availability of resources and having to go through international sanctions and technology denial regimes.