What this guide covers
- 01Vendor tiers and bank guarantee
- 02The two-portal rule
- 03Documents
- 04The nine rejection reasons
- 05Cadence and what to expect
- 06Four things to do the day you are approved
- 07Things not to do
- 08Your first customer file
Tiers
Vendor tiers and bank guarantee
| Tier | Bank guarantee | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| State vendor | ₹2.5 lakh | All districts of one state |
| Multi-state vendor | ₹2.5 lakh per state | Two or more named states |
| National vendor | ₹25 lakh | All India |
The bank guarantee must:
- Run for a full five years from the date of issue
- Be in the prescribed MNRE format
- Be signed and stamped by the bank on every page — unsigned second and third pages are a named rejection reason
- Be issued in favour of the state nodal agency (or MNRE for national)
Most new installers should start as a state vendor. Selecting “multi-state” when you meant “state” is itself a rejection reason.
Registration
The two-portal rule — the mistake that fills every rejection list
You must register in two places:
- Your state nodal agency portal — UPNEDA (UP), BREDA (Bihar), RRECL (Rajasthan), HAREDA (Haryana) or the DISCOM where the DISCOM is the nodal body. The full list for all 36 states and UTs is on the PM Surya Ghar Knowledge Centre.
- The national portal, pmsuryaghar.gov.in → Vendor Registration.
Most common rejection
Registering on only one portal
Registering on only one — usually the state portal — is the single most common reason for rejection across every list published in 2026. Complete both before couriering documents.
Checklist
Documents
- Company/firm registration (GST certificate, Udyam/MSME certificate, PAN)
- Bank guarantee (original, all pages signed by bank)
- 15-point declaration/undertaking on ₹100 non-judicial stamp paper, notarised, with the firm's stamp and authorised signatory
- Authorisation letter for the signatory — uploaded in its own field, not the declaration field
- Rooftop solar experience declaration — up to 100 kW is self-declared; 101 kW and above requires an experience certificate
- Details of technical staff and service infrastructure in the state
- Cancelled cheque, address proof, photographs of office/warehouse
Physical originals go to the nodal office by speed post or courier only — hand delivery is refused under the current procedure.
Rejections
The nine rejection reasons, from the published lists
- No registration on the national portal — applied on the state portal only.
- Declaration not on ₹100 stamp paper or not notarised.
- Bank guarantee validity under five years.
- Authorisation letter uploaded in the declaration field (wrong slot).
- Same document (usually the GST certificate) uploaded in every field.
- Firm's stamp/seal missing from the declaration.
- Bank has not signed pages 2 and 3 of the bank guarantee.
- Wrong vendor category — multi-state selected where state was intended.
- No re-registration after an earlier rejection. A rejection does not self-heal; you must correct and resubmit.
Print this list, tick each item before submission, and you have eliminated the causes behind essentially every rejection in the last six months.
Cadence
Cadence and what to expect
- New approval/rejection lists publish roughly every 15–20 days, typically 250–300 names combined.
- In the window March–August 2026 the national portal published lists on 7 May (123 approved), 5 July (58 rejected), 20 July (192 approved), 14 August (rejections) and 18 August (236 approved).
- In late August 2026, 300+ vendor IDs were deactivated for non-compliance — empanelment is not permanent.
Day one
Four things to do the day you are approved
- Download the empanelment certificate from the portal and keep it on your letterhead; customers and DISCOMs will ask.
- Register on the DCR Verification Portal (separate portal, separate login). Without it you cannot issue B2C DCR certificates and your customers cannot claim subsidy. See our DCR certificate guide.
- Order PMSGMBY logo stickers (weather-resistant PVC, 25×25 mm and 50×50 mm, English and Hindi) — mandatory on modules, inverters and DBs since 3 August 2026, at your cost.
- Set up a complaint-response routine. Under the June 2026 MNRE SOP, a complaint you do not answer within 8 days gets a reminder, then a show-cause, then a one-month portal block at day 30, and blocked vendors are listed publicly.
Remember
Silence, not defect, is what gets vendors blocked
The escalation clock runs on your response, not on whether the complaint was justified. Answer every complaint inside 8 days.
Avoid
Things not to do
- Do not under-declare experience to dodge the experience-certificate requirement. If you have 150 kW of installations, produce the certificate.
- Do not skip the ₹100 stamp paper because “someone got approved without it.” Approvals obtained on an incomplete declaration are exposed at audit.
- Do not pay a “training consultant” ₹30,000–40,000 for a hotel session because your name appeared on a vendor list. Everything in this article is the training.
Operations
Your first customer file
Once empanelled, the operational sequence for each customer is: accept the application → agreement on ₹100 stamp paper → site feasibility report after a physical visit → procure DCR modules → issue B2C DCR certificate with panel serials → submit installation with inverter serial and geo-tagged photo → customer confirms from their own login → DISCOM inspection → customer redeems subsidy.
Our How to apply for PM Surya Ghar and DCR certificate guides cover each step.
Supply support
Newly empanelled?
Headsup B2B supports newly empanelled vendors in Bihar, Rajasthan, UP and Delhi-NCR with DCR module stock (B2B DCR transfer), inverters, structures, and a document pre-check before you courier your empanelment file.
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