Skip to content
VGVijay GalaniFounder · Sahayog Energy
Back home
Insights · Long-form

Notes from a self-made industrialist.

First-person essays on rooftop solar, India's renewable transition, dealer-led distribution, the agri-input sector and the patient capital it takes to compound a multi-sector group from Rajkot.

VG
Mr. Vijay GalaniFull profile
Founder · Sahayog Energy · Rajkot
Topics
Industry· 5Solar· 4Family Enterprise· 2Mentorship· 1Investing· 1
All essays13 pieces
Solar01

Tier-1 vs Tier-3 solar panels — the actual difference that decides whether your investment compounds

Spec sheets are a marketing exercise. What actually matters in 2026 — module ratings, warranty depth, LID & degradation, real-world performance — and how to read a quote without getting taken.

9 May 20268 minRead
Industry02

Why I keep the office in Rajkot — not Mumbai, not Bangalore

An honest take on why headquartering a multi-sector group in Saurashtra is the right operating decision in 2026 — and why most Indian SME founders should stop apologising for their home city.

30 Apr 20266 minRead
Solar03

PM Surya Ghar Yojana — what every Indian household needs to know

A plain-English walkthrough of India's flagship rooftop solar subsidy — eligibility, the ₹78,000 ceiling, the application flow, and what actually happens after you apply.

22 Apr 20267 minRead
Mentorship04

Hiring solar installation crews — what 100 wrong hires taught us

The unglamorous reality of staffing a pan-India installation business. Why the resume is irrelevant, what to test for in the first call, and how to design retention into the role before you make the offer.

14 Apr 20267 minRead
Family Enterprise05

Saurashtra's first-generation entrepreneurs — the unwritten playbook

What it actually looks like to build a multi-sector group from a Tier-2 Gujarat city in 2026. Not nostalgia — the operating instincts that travel from the textile mills of Rajkot to a rooftop solar business.

28 Mar 20266 minRead
Solar06

Why rooftop solar is the smartest financial decision an Indian household can make in 2026

A founder's view on the economics — payback periods, real-asset returns and why solar is a better deposit than a fixed deposit.

18 Mar 20266 minRead
Industry07

Building a dealer-led business from Rajkot — the Sahayog playbook

First-person notes from a self-made entrepreneur on building distribution in a category that didn't yet have a playbook.

12 Feb 20267 minRead
Investing08

Real assets, patient capital — a self-made entrepreneur's view on investing

Why my capital sits in the things India structurally needs — and almost never in things that promise to disrupt them.

29 Jan 20266 minRead
Industry09

The future of Indian agri-inputs — supply where India needs it

Why fertilizer and chemical distribution still matters in a country with 120 million farming households — and why doing it right is harder than it looks.

9 Dec 20256 minRead
Industry10

Indian fertilizer & agri-input market — the next decade

60 million tonnes a year, 120 million farming households, and a distribution structure most outside observers misread. Notes from Sahayog Ferti Chem.

4 Nov 20257 minRead
Industry11

Solar manufacturing in India — VVP Solar's view from Gujarat

Why I think the next decade of Indian solar manufacturing will be defined in Gujarat — and the operating choices we made to participate in it.

17 Sept 20256 minRead
Solar12

PGVCL and the Gujarat rooftop solar advantage

Why Gujarat's DISCOM ecosystem makes the state the easiest place in India to put solar on your roof — and what the rest of the country can learn from it.

23 Jul 20255 minRead
Family Enterprise13

The case for multi-sector family groups in modern India

Why a Rajkot-based group that runs solar, manufacturing, agri-inputs and trading is not 'unfocused' — it's a deliberately Indian capital allocation.

30 May 20256 minRead