Home Ministry bans solar and wind projects within 1 km of India's international border
· Reported by The Hindu
The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued new national security guidelines banning solar, wind and hybrid renewable energy projects within 1 km of India's international border, and requiring security clearance for such projects located between 1 km and 50 km from the border. The guidelines also bar developers from engaging staff or labour from Pakistan, Bangladesh or China without MHA permission, and from transferring project land to foreign companies without prior central government and MHA clearance.
What this changes for a title check
For any renewable energy project land located within 50 km of an international border anywhere in India, whether in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, the northeast or elsewhere, a title and regulatory check now needs to confirm the project actually obtained MHA security clearance before financing or acquiring land, since a project within the 1 km no-go zone cannot proceed at all and one in the 1 to 50 km band is conditional on clearance that did not previously exist as a stated requirement. A lender financing a border-zone renewable project should treat missing MHA clearance as a fundamental defect in the project's regulatory chain, not a minor compliance gap.
This also affects any land transfer to a foreign-owned developer or joint venture in the border belt, since such transfers now need prior central government approval and MHA clearance on top of ordinary land-transfer formalities like registration and any state-level land-ceiling or non-agricultural conversion approvals. A title check on a border-zone project acquired or financed before this guideline should flag the absence of MHA clearance as a new compliance gap that may need to be cured retroactively.