This work proposes the design and experimental investigation of fuzzy precompensated hybrid proportionalintegral (PI) controller for permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) driven standalone solar water pumping system. Conventional proportional integral (PI) controller usually has fixed gains, which makes them quite sensitive to the parameter variations. In order to improve its performance, both during dynamic and steady state conditions, the presented controller introduces a fuzzy logic controller (FLC), which processes the speed error. The speed along with the processed output is inputted to the PI controller for speed control of PMSM. This topology uses a solar photovoltaic (PV) array to convert the solar power into electrical power. The energy obtained is utilized to rotate the PMSM using a 3-ϕ voltage source inverter. The PMSM is coupled to a pump, which performs the water pumping. An intermediate stage DC – DC converter is utilized to maximize the power output using an incremental conductance algorithm. A PV feed-forward term is incorporated to provide an accelerated performance. This topology is modelled and its response is manifested through simulation studies using MATLAB/Simulink under different atmospheric conditions. A hardware validation of it is also carried out using a digital signal processor controller (dSPACE DS-1004) on a developed laboratory prototype.