Opening new doors
India stands at a defining moment in its energy and industrial journey. The Sustained Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill is not merely another legislative reform – it is a strategic signal about how the country intends to build its long-term energy security and industrial depth. While much of the discussion around the bill has focused on capacity addition and private participation, its deeper implication lies in how it can reshape opportunities for Indian engineering firms and, critically, for the MSME sector.
At present, India’s installed nuclear power capacity is about 8.2-8.9 GW, contributing 2-3 per cent of the country’s power mix. The government has already approved projects that will take this figure to 13 GW by 2029-30 and 22.5 GW by 2032. Looking further ahead, the Nuclear Energy Mission envisions 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047 – more than 10 times today’s level.
This trajectory is important not only from an energy-transition perspective but from an industrial one. Nuclear energy is different from short-cycle infrastructure sectors. It is capital-intensive, compliance-heavy and long-gestation. Once a nuclear project is commissioned, it operates for 40-60 years, with continuous demand for engineering support, upgrades, maintenance, testing and services. In effect, every nuclear project seeds a long-term industrial ecosystem around it.
The real significance of India’s nuclear expansion, therefore, is not just the megawatts being added. It is the creation of a high-discipline, long-duration industrial platform. This is where the SHANTI Bill assumes strategic importance. By formalising private participation and providing policy clarity, it enables credible engineering firms to integrate responsibly into a sector that has historically been restricted by necessity.
From an MSME perspective, this matters enormously. In power, railways and defence, once ecosystems mature, 60-70 per cent of the project value typically flows to MSMEs and OEM suppliers. Nuclear projects require a similar, if not broader, spectrum of inputs: civil works, mechanical fabrication, precision machining, electrical systems, instrumentation, testing, logistics and specialised services.
Indian MSMEs already possess many of these capabilities. What has been missing is structured access to nuclear projects and the assurance of continuity. With nuclear capacity expected to grow nearly 11-fold by 2047, even conservative multipliers point to billions of rupees worth of MSME-sourced components and services, distributed across multiple regions and over several decades.
The SHANTI Bill helps unlock this potential by doing three critical things. First, it brings policy clarity, which is essential for long-term capital and capability investment. Second, it addresses structural bottlenecks, including liability concerns that have historically limited private participation. Third, it signals intent – to domestic and global stakeholders – that India is serious about building a diversified, resilient nuclear supply chain.
For private engineering firms, clarity of policy is indispensable. Once private firms are integrated responsibly into nuclear projects, MSMEs naturally follow, because large engineering companies work through deep and layered supply chains. In this sense, private participation acts as a conduit through which MSMEs enter the nuclear ecosystem under nuclear-grade standards.
The financial scale involved underscores the magnitude of the opportunity. Independent assessments estimate that India will require about R19.3 lakh crore (say, $217 billion) in investment to achieve its nuclear goals of 2047. A significant share of this will be on construction, equipment, systems integration and services – areas where domestic supply chains can play a decisive role. Even if 10-15 per cent of this investment flows to MSMEs, it would translate into R2-3 lakh crore in cumulative orders over the next two decades.
Another promising dimension is the emergence of small modular reactors (SMRs). India plans to operationalise at least five indigenous SMRs by 2033. Unlike conventional large reactors, SMRs are designed to be factory-built and assembled on site. This introduces repetition, standardisation and modular manufacturing – conditions that are particularly conducive to MSME participation.
Importantly, evidence of momentum already exists. Even before the passage of the SHANTI Bill, Indian firms such as BHEL, Walchandnagar Industries, MTAR Technologies, Kirloskar Oil Engines and Global Engineers have secured contracts worth hundreds of crores linked to nuclear projects. This demonstrates that domestic capability is real and that participation is growing.
What SHANTI changes is that these pathways will no longer be episodic or ad hoc. It institutionalises private and MSME participation in a sector that is strategic, sensitive and long-term. That institutionalisation is what gives confidence to investors planning capacity, to engineers building capability, and to MSMEs upgrading processes and skills.