If you sell rooftop solar in India, ALMM is the rule most likely to turn a profitable job into a loss without anyone doing anything wrong.

The mechanism is simple. The consequences are not.

Two lists, not one

The Approved List of Models and Manufacturers has two parts, and conflating them is where most of the confusion starts.

List-I is solar PV modules. The first list was issued on 10 March 2021.
List-II is solar PV cells, the things inside the modules. The first list was issued on 31 July 2025.

Per MNRE, only models and manufacturers on List-I are eligible for use in government projects, government-assisted projects, projects under government schemes and programmes, open access projects, and net metering projects.

That last category is the one that matters to you. Almost every residential and commercial rooftop job you do is a net metering project. ALMM is not a rule for utility-scale developers that you can safely ignore.

What List-II actually asks

Where List-I asks "is this module on the approved list", List-II asks a harder question: "were the cells inside this module made by an approved manufacturer".

A module can sit comfortably on List-I and still fail a List-II test, because the manufacturer assembled it using imported cells. From the outside the two modules are indistinguishable. The datasheet does not tell you. Only the cell sourcing does.

This is why the requirement has real commercial teeth. Stock you already own can become ineligible for the projects you bought it for, without changing in any physical way.

The dates, and why you should not trust this page for them

MNRE originally set 1 June 2026 as the commissioning deadline after which List-II compliance applies, with provisions intended to protect investments already made.

Since then the ministry has issued a series of clarifications and carve-outs, including guidance on rooftop projects on government buildings and an exemption for the "Give it Up" category under PM Surya Ghar. Trade press has also reported a further extension of the List-II exemption for net metering and open access projects, via an office memorandum dated 18 July 2026.

That warning is the most useful thing in this article. An EPC who checks the current order before every bulk purchase will never be caught. An EPC who remembers a date from last quarter eventually will be.

What to do about it

Ask the question at purchase, in writing

When you buy modules, ask the supplier to state the cell manufacturer and its List-II status, in writing, on the invoice or a covering letter. A verbal assurance from a distributor is worth nothing at inspection.

Date your projects by commissioning, not by sale

The obligation attaches at commissioning. A job you sell in October and commission in February sits under whatever rule applies in February. When your approval timelines are long, this gap is where the risk lives.

Separate your stock

If you hold both compliant and non-compliant modules, physically separate them and label them. The expensive mistake is not buying the wrong stock. It is installing the right stock on the wrong project because both pallets looked the same.

Tell the customer before they hear it elsewhere

Customers in the middle of a subsidy application read the news too. A short note saying which modules you are using and why they qualify turns a worrying headline into a reason to trust you.

Where this bites in the design

There is a second-order effect worth planning for.

When a compliance change forces a module substitution, the replacement rarely matches the original wattage exactly. A 545 W module becomes a 550 W or a 535 W. That changes the string length, sometimes the inverter loading ratio, and occasionally the physical layout on a constrained roof.

If your design lives in a drawing someone made by hand, that substitution means redoing the drawing, the bill of materials, the generation estimate and the proposal. If it lives in a model, you change the module and the rest follows.

That is not a compliance argument. It is a reason to keep your designs in something that can be changed quickly, because this will not be the last time a rule moves under a signed project.

The short version

List-I is modules. List-II is the cells inside them.
Net metering projects are covered. That means nearly all of your rooftop work.
The deadline has moved more than once and may move again.
Get cell sourcing in writing at purchase, and date your compliance from commissioning.

Sources

Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
MNRE clarifies ALMM List-II compliance rules for government rooftop solar projects, SolarQuarter
MNRE eases ALMM cell compliance for rooftop solar projects delayed by DISCOMs, Saur Energy