<p>In response to the increasing environmental, economic, and social concerns, governments and policymakers are forced to implement renewable energy technologies (RETs). However, a variety of barriers restrict the development of renewable energy (RE). As per the significance of barriers, the study offers a systematic framework for ranking them in order of their priority within the rural Indian context. This study consists of two phases. In the first phase, a literature survey was used to identify the barriers. Thirty-one critical barriers were identified, which were categorised into seven broad categories: social, economic, political and policy, technological, institutional, market, and geographical barriers. In the second phase, the weights and ranking order of each barrier and sub-barrier were determined using the interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy-AHP (IVPyF-AHP) method. The results show that the economic barrier ranks highest among the seven main barriers, whereas high capital costs is the top-most sub-barrier among all the thirty-one sub-barriers. A comparative and sensitivity analysis is conducted to demonstrate the robustness of the ranking order of all the prioritised barriers. Finally, to remove these barriers, a number of suggestions (pathways) are offered. This study can serve as a guide for governments, policymakers, stakeholders, utilities, and researchers interested in implementing RETs in India and around the world.</p>