The Union Budget 2010, presented recently by Pranab Mukherjee, the Union Finance Minister of India, offers a bag of goodies to players in the area of solar photovoltaics. Here are some of the proposals: * The Finance Minster has proposed to increase the Plan Outlay for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) by 61 percent from Rs. 620 crores in 2009-2010 to Rs. 1,000 crores in 2010-2011. * To address the problem of energy deficiency in the Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir, which faces extremely hard climate, the government proposes to set up solar, small hydro and micro power projects at a cost of Rs. 500 crores. * The MNRE, which aims to develop and utilise new and renewable sources of energy fur supplementing energy requirements of the country in an ecofriendly and sustainable manner, has got a total Plan Outlay of Rs. 1,950 crores, which includes Rs. 950 crores as IEBR in the annual plan for the year. The following physical targets/activities have been set during the financial year: 2,972 MW Grid-Interactive Power capacity addition from Wind, Small Hydro, Biomass, Power/Cogeneration, Urban & Industrial Waste to Energy and Solar Power; 142 MW eq. off-grid/distributed renewable power systems. *Provision of basic electricity/lighting facility through SPV/other RE systems and devices, including DRPS in 1500 remote villages/hamlets; and family-type biogas plants of capacity of 0.30 million m2 (1.5 lakhs nos.). *Deployment of solar water heating systems of 1.00 million m2; promotion of energy-efficient buildings (1 million m2. floor area) and development of solar cities. * R&D activities on different aspects of new and renewable energy technologies; support to MNRE centres /institutions and standard and testing; Renewable Energy Resource Assessment. * Information, Publicity and Extension (IPE) of Renewable Energy systems; International Relations; Administration and Monitoring including HRD and Training; Support to States, Public Enterprises and Industry including HRD and training activities to be undertaken under Solar Mission. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM), announced late November 2009, and launched in early January 2010 by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Hon'ble Indian Prime Minister, aims to generate 20,000 MW (20 GW) by 2022, which is quite an ambitious target in itself. While a lot of permutations and combinations were going on within the Indian industry regarding the many recommendations made by industry captains to the Hon'ble Finance minister, it was clear that NSM and solar PV would get a top priority treatment. And so, it has! If you are looking to enter India in the solar PV field, the time is NOW!