The Indian nuclear energy programme is at crossroads with several alternative pathways of industrial development potentially open to it. These possibilities include options for technology selection and development, as well as for organising the efforts of the state-owned entities and private companies. The nuclear energy programme also sets and aspires to target installed capacity through mid-century. This paper traces the development of the Indian nuclear industry and the role that key entities – international vendors, private companies and domestic decision makers – have played in its development, and diagnoses and proposes solutions to the challenges the nuclear energy programme faces as it plans an expansion to several hundred gigawatts by 2050.
