Sustainable Lighting Solutions for Homes in Rural India: Achieving a transition from kerosene to off-grid solar for lighting

The document identifies high upfront costs, limited financial inclusion, and persistent kerosene subsidies as the primary barriers to off-grid solar adoption in rural India. It suggests leveraging the 'JAM trinity' (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, and mobile payments) to implement Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) for solar and reforming the Public Distribution System (PDS) to reduce kerosene leakage. The brief argues that savings from reduced kerosene subsidies could be redirected to fund solar penetration through results-based financing or direct customer subsidies.

• Kerosene use in India causes significant health and environmental issues, including 500,000 premature deaths annually due to indoor air pollution and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Indian Public Distribution System (PDS) for kerosene is plagued by inefficiency, with estimates suggesting that nearly 50 per cent of subsidized kerosene is lost through theft, divergence, and adulteration.
• High upfront costs make solar lighting less competitive than subsidized kerosene; for example, a mid-level solar lantern costs approximately INR 1,800 (USD 26) for a two-year life, while three litres of subsidized kerosene per month costs households only INR 576 (USD 9.2) per year.
• Financial inclusion remains a barrier, as only half of India's population had access to a household bank account in 2014, and only 15 per cent used them for payments, though the Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) scheme has since opened approximately 192 million accounts as of November 2015.
• The Government of India is implementing Direct Benefit Transfer for Kerosene (DBT-K), modeled after the LPG scheme (PAHAL), which uses the Aadhaar identification system to link subsidies directly to bank accounts to reduce fraud and leakage.
• The government could potentially fund solar adoption using savings from kerosene subsidies, as the annual subsidy per household is around INR 600 (USD 9.5), which could be redirected to offset the cost of solar applications.

APA

Bridle, R., & Clarke, K. (2017). Sustainable Lighting Solutions for Homes in Rural India: Achieving a transition from kerosene to off-grid solar for lighting. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/sustainable-lighting-solutions-homes-rural-india.pdf

Chicago

Bridle, Richard, and Kieran Clarke. Sustainable Lighting Solutions for Homes in Rural India: Achieving a transition from kerosene to off-grid solar for lighting. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/sustainable-lighting-solutions-homes-rural-india.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bridle |first1=Richard |last2=Clarke |first2=Kieran |title=Sustainable Lighting Solutions for Homes in Rural India: Achieving a transition from kerosene to off-grid solar for lighting |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=August 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/sustainable-lighting-solutions-homes-rural-india.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bridle2017sustainable, author = {Bridle, Richard and Clarke, Kieran}, title = {{Sustainable Lighting Solutions for Homes in Rural India: Achieving a transition from kerosene to off-grid solar for lighting}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = aug, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/sustainable-lighting-solutions-homes-rural-india.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }