Civil nuclear liability has historically been a barrier to foreign investment in India's nuclear sector. Critically analyse how the SHANTI Act, 2025 addresses this.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 granted operators a right of recourse against suppliers of defective equipment — a departure from global practice that deterred foreign reactor vendors for over a decade. The SHANTI Act, 2025, which received Presidential assent on 21 December 2025 and repeals both the CLNDA, 2010 and the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, seeks to remove this bottleneck [3].

How the Act addresses the liability barrier

• Supplier liability removed: the Act withdraws the right of recourse on grounds of defective equipment or material, channelling liability to the operator and aligning India with international conventions [3].
• Graded, predictable liability: against the CLNDA's flat ₹1,500 crore ceiling, operator liability is now tiered by installed capacity — ₹100 crore for small and fuel-cycle facilities up to ₹3,000 crore above 3,600 MW — enabling accurate insurance pricing [3].
• Overall cap defined: total liability per incident is capped at the rupee equivalent of 300 million SDR, giving investors an outer limit [1].
• Regulatory certainty: the AERB gains statutory status, and private or joint-venture entities may build, own and operate plants under a Central Government licence plus AERB safety authorisation [2].

Critical assessment — limits that persist

• Rules not yet notified: as of July 2026 subordinate rules remain in the drafting stage, so no private licence has been issued — reform on paper precedes reform on ground [1].
• Foreign equity restricted: licences are barred to companies incorporated outside India, so foreign firms enter only as suppliers or minority partners [3].
• Sovereign carve-outs: enrichment, heavy-water production and spent-fuel management stay exclusively with the Government, limiting full-cycle commercial entry [2].
• Diluted supplier accountability also raises victim-compensation and safety-incentive concerns, requiring a robust insurance pool.

The Act therefore resolves the legal deterrent while leaving the operational one intact. Swift notification of rules, a deepened nuclear insurance pool and calibrated foreign-equity liberalisation would convert this statutory promise into investment, advancing India's 100 GW-by-2047 goal and its net-zero commitment.