India’s RE Sector Faces Compliance Crush With 2,700 Annual Filings

RE Sector Faces Over 2,700 Compliance Burdens: TeamLease RegTech

India’s renewable energy companies are grappling with a staggering volume of regulatory obligations, with a single solar power project facing over 2,700 compliance instances annually, according to a new report released by TeamLease RegTech.

Titled “Decoding Compliance Management for the Renewable Energy Sector”, the report highlights the regulatory complexity hampering India’s clean energy transition, even as the country’s solar capacity stands at 107.94 GW – the third-largest globally.

According to TeamLease RegTech, a standalone solar plant in Maharashtra, with a corporate office in Haryana, must meet 799 unique regulatory requirements stemming from 646 central and 153 state and municipal laws. When multiplied by varying compliance frequencies, this balloons into 2,735 annual compliance instances.

Labour laws constitute the largest burden, with 244 obligations scaling to 1,071 when accounting for frequency. These include requirements under the Employees’ Provident Fund Act, Maternity Benefit Act, Payment of Wages Act, and other critical legislations. Notably, 77.1% of the 83 compliance provisions involving imprisonment fall under the labour category, making it the most criminalised area of compliance.

“India’s renewable energy sector is thriving on the back of favourable policies and strong private investment,” said Rishi Agrawal, Co-Founder and CEO of TeamLease RegTech. “However, managing over 2,700 regulatory requirements across three legislative levels and seven legal categories demands a robust combination of people, process, technology, and partnerships.”

Agrawal warned that the challenge grows exponentially with geographical expansion, compounded by an average of 9,331 annual regulatory updates. He called for a shift from ad-hoc, paper-based compliance systems to proactive, tech-enabled frameworks.

The report also sheds light on systemic challenges including inconsistent net metering policies across states, lengthy approval cycles requiring up to 51 licenses, and a lack of centralised regulatory visibility.

To address these issues, the report recommends enhanced collaboration with regulators and industry bodies, adoption of dynamic digital compliance checklists, proactive legal monitoring, and a strong compliance culture led from the top. It also urges companies to leverage digital tools for risk-based audits and to streamline compliance workflows.

About TeamLease RegTech 

TeamLease RegTech is India’s leading regulatory technology firm, offering a SaaS-based compliance management platform used by over 2,600 entities across 50 industries. The platform tracks more than 50 million compliance instances and scans over 3,700 union, state, and local websites for real-time updates. A subsidiary of TeamLease Services, the company is working toward a national open compliance grid to support a paperless, digital India.