President Droupadi Murmu grants assent to SHANTI Bill opening nuclear sector to private firms

President Droupadi Murmu has granted assent to the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, paving the way for private participation in India’s civil nuclear sector.

A government notification said the President gave her assent to the SHANTI Bill on Saturday. Parliament passed the legislation during the Winter Session.

The SHANTI Bill subsumes all existing laws governing the civil nuclear sector and opens it up to private companies. It repeals the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, which the government said had emerged as impediments to the growth of nuclear power in the country.

Under the new law, private companies and joint ventures can build, own, operate and decommission nuclear power plants, subject to licensing by the government.

At the same time, the Bill makes it clear that strategic and sensitive activities will remain under state



control. Mining of uranium and thorium, enrichment, isotopic separation, reprocessing of spent fuel, management of high-level radioactive waste and heavy water production will continue to be carried out exclusively by the central government or government-owned entities.

The enactment of the SHANTI Bill marks a major restructuring of India’s civil nuclear framework, with the government opening up power generation to private participation while retaining control over critical aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle.

The approval come hours after President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025, formally clearing the way for a major overhaul of India’s flagship rural employment programme.

With this, the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) stands replaced by a new statutory framework aligned with the government’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.