PM-KUSUM Solar Pump Subsidy for Punjab Farmers, Explained

If you have asked about solar for your farm, you have probably heard two scheme names used almost interchangeably: PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM. They are not the same scheme, and confusing them leads to the wrong expectation about what you can get and how.

Two different schemes, two different things

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is for rooftop solar on a home or business, connected to the PSPCL grid through a net meter. It is what most of this website covers. A standalone farm water pump is not a rooftop system and is not grid-connected in the way PM Surya Ghar requires.

PM-KUSUM, specifically Component B, is the scheme that actually applies to a farmer’s solar water pump: a standalone system that runs a pump directly from solar panels, with no grid connection needed at all. In Punjab, the state agency that runs it is PEDA, the Punjab Energy Development Agency, alongside the central government’s own contribution.

What the subsidy actually looks like

We are deliberately not printing a fixed subsidy percentage in this article. Here is why: reported figures for PM-KUSUM Component B vary across sources, sometimes within the same year, and the scheme runs in application windows that open and close — the terms available when you apply may not match a number quoted online months earlier, including on our own site. Rather than repeat a figure that might already be out of date by the time you read it, we would rather you ask us directly, or check with PEDA, for what applies right now.

What we can tell you plainly: the scheme is structured as a central government share plus a Punjab state share, which meaningfully reduces what a farmer pays out of pocket compared to the full system cost — significant enough that most farmers who qualify find it worth applying through, even with the paperwork.

Why this matters for sizing

A solar pump is sized to your tubewell’s depth and the flow rate you need, using your current diesel or electric pump’s rating as the starting point — not a single fixed package. Whether the subsidy structure favours a particular pump capacity in the current scheme round is exactly the kind of detail that changes between rounds, which is another reason to check current terms before committing to a specific size on the assumption of a specific subsidy amount.

A third thing this is not

If your farm already runs on Punjab’s free agricultural power supply, remember that a solar pump’s saving there is on diesel, reliability and the fixed schedule of agricultural feeder power — not on an electricity bill that was already free. Solar water pumps solve a different problem for a free-power tubewell than they do for a paid connection.

RSK has installed 100+ solar pump and tubewell systems for farmers across Punjab. Send us your tubewell’s depth and current pump rating on WhatsApp, and we’ll help you work out sizing and the current PM-KUSUM position together.