Exports Making Indian Factories Greener: IIM Study

This highlights how trade can be a partner in India's journey toward sustainable and competitive manufacturing, apart from creating jobs

- Press Trust Of India

Exports not only boost business growth but also make Indian factories greener, a study by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow, has found after analysing two decades of firm-level data.

Described as the first-of-its-kind, the study examined whether export orientation encourages Indian manufacturing companies to adopt greener practices. Led by Chandan Sharma, professor of Economics and Business Environment at IIM-Lucknow, it has been published in the prestigious Energy Economics (Elsevier) journal. While trade is often criticised for raising environmental pressures in developing countries, there is limited causal evidence on whether exporting firms adopt greener practices, especially in terms of energy use.