SELCO has played an instrumental role in improving living standards of poor households in rural India especially in the state of Karnataka through solar energy based interventions and low smoke cook stoves.

[2] SELCO India was founded in 1995 by Dr.Harish Hande an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur with INR 15,000 funding from its co-founder Mr. Neville Williams.

Initially, SELF took a majority stake in the new company, with Williams as Chairman, while Hande retained a minority shareholding position and the role of Managing Director.

[6] SELCO India eventually came into being in 1995 under the leadership of Hande and Neville Williams, president of Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF).

Financial backing was received in December 1996 from Winrock International which released a conditional loan of $150,000 under the USAID Renewable energy commercialization project.