Encouragement to Domestic Households for Installation of Solar Panels Government has set a target for installation of 100 GW solar power by the year 2022. This was stated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. The Government has taken following steps to promote generation of solar power in the country: Financial support in the form of generation based incentives and viability gap funding for solar power projects. Fiscal incentives such as accelerated depreciation, concessional custom duty, excise duty exemptions, income tax holiday for 10 years Concessional loans from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Loans under Priority Sector Lending upto Rs. 15 crore for renewable energy projects. Bank loans as a part of home loan/ home improvement loan for rooftop solar systems Subsidy for grid connected rooftop solar systems, solar pumping systems, concentrated solar thermal and other off-grid solar applications. The Minister further stated that the Central Financial Assistance of 30% of the benchmark cost is provided for general category States/UTs and 70% for special category States/UTs including Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep Islands in the country to defined categories including domestic houses. RM/RS- USQ863 RS