Solar cell manufacturer Jupiter is planning an initial public offering (IPO) by the middle of next year to raise funds for its expansion plans in FY28 and FY29. The company is in talks with merchant bankers and expects to finalise its IPO plans in about a month.
The proposed IPO comes as the company scales up its manufacturing capacity and expects revenue to more than double to Rs 6,500 crore in FY28, from a projected Rs 3,000-3,200 crore in the current financial year. Jupiter reported revenue of Rs 950 crore last year, its chief executive officer Dhruv Sharma told TNIE.
The company currently has around 5.4 GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity and is commissioning an additional 3 GW facility in Nagpur over the next six months, taking its total capacity to 7.5 GW. The expansion is expected to drive a sharp increase in revenue from the next financial year.
The IPO proceeds will help fund the company's next phase of expansion in FY28 and FY29, as it looks to strengthen its position in solar cell manufacturing and diversify into upstream solar components and battery storage.
Jupiter, which entered solar cell manufacturing in 2008-09, has chosen to focus on cell manufacturing rather than diversify into solar module production. It supplies cells to module manufacturers, including Waaree Energies, Premier Energies and Adani group companies, under annual supply contracts.
“Solar cell manufacturing is more technology-intensive and capital-intensive than module assembly,” Sharma said, explaining that the company's focus on a single segment allows it to concentrate its management resources and technical expertise on manufacturing efficiency and quality.
The company is also planning backward integration into ingot and wafer manufacturing. It intends to establish an initial 2 GW plant in the Nagpur region over the next year and subsequently expand capacity to 10 GW, ahead of the government's proposed quality-control requirements for wafers and ingots from 2028.
The move is aimed at strengthening domestic sourcing as India seeks to reduce its dependence on China across the solar manufacturing value chain. India's registered solar module manufacturing capacity is around 250 GW, compared with about 37 GW of solar cell capacity, according to Sharma.
Jupiter is also entering the battery energy storage segment, with plans to commission a 5 GW battery energy storage system and energy management plant in July 2027. It also plans to expand into battery cell manufacturing as demand for storage rises alongside renewable energy capacity.
Sharma said energy storage would become increasingly important because solar generation is intermittent and electricity supply needs to be balanced throughout the day. Battery storage would help solar power meet a larger share of electricity demand.
Jupiter's expansion comes amid growing policy support for domestic solar manufacturing, including production-linked incentive schemes and measures to encourage local sourcing. Sharma said India's solar manufacturing ecosystem was still developing and that project execution, rather than the design of incentive schemes, had been a key challenge for some participants.
