A lightbulb moment

By opening nuclear power to private investment, the SHANTI Act aims to reshape India’s energy landscape. The opportunity is clear, but there are operational and regulatory hurdles that any new entrant will have to navigate. Indrajit Basu reports

For six decades, India’s nuclear sector has been the exclusive preserve of the state. The Atomic Energy Act of 1962 drew a hard boundary between public and private, and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010 reinforced it by saddling equipment suppliers with open-ended liability that made foreign technology partnerships nearly impossible. Private companies have been, effectively, shut out.

All that changes with the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, 2025 (SHANTI), introduced in mid-December last year. With a single, modern statute, this bill streamlines regulation, licensing, safety oversight, liability rules and dispute resolution.

It also repeals both predecessor laws, grants statutory authority to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), restructures nuclear liability on terms acceptable to private capital, and opens the door for licensed private operators to build, own and run nuclear power plants for the first time.

“India’s nuclear sector is [slated for] a paradigm shift,” says Akshay Malhotra, the Delhi-based partner of TT&A.

The timing is deliberate. India has committed to building 100 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2047, a target too large for the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) alone. This utility has long designed, built and operated India’s nuclear plants, anchoring the sector’s technical and operational expertise. But, in the face of such massive capacity expansion, private investment is not merely welcome; it is essential.

However, ambition and law are not the same thing as readiness. The key question that lingers for the early years of the SHANTI Act’s framework is whether Indian companies can build the skills, governance and risk appetite to run nuclear projects safely and responsibly.

Institutional capabilities

The biggest challenge facing any Indian conglomerate entering the nuclear sector is not only financial but organisational. Operating a nuclear plant requires technical expertise largely absent in the private sector. It must be built, borrowed or acquired. “To operate within this new framework, private corporations must develop extensive institutional capabilities,” says Malhotra of TT&A. “This includes development of deep technical expertise and a highly skilled workforce compliant with the standards set by the newly empowered … AERB.”

Under the SHANTI Act’s dual-permit structure, every nuclear activity requires both a central government licence and AERB safety authorisation – a two-gate entry that leaves no room for shortcuts.

Skilled talent is another hurdle. The NPCIL is an obvious source. Delhi-based Ramanuj Kumar, partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM), says retired or retiring NPCIL personnel can move to the private sector, although this requires institutional architecture to function effectively.

Governance is equally critical. Bengaluru-based Megha Arora, a partner at CMS IndusLaw, says nuclear power demands enhanced governance frameworks: dedicated board-level nuclear safety and regulatory compliance committees; reinforced internal controls; and periodic internal and independent audits.