India’s opportunity in cleantech manufacturing

India’s clean energy addition topped 45GW in 2025, with round-the-clock renewable energy tenders floated by parties that included the Indian Railways.

- Amitabh Kant

This interest in dispatchable, 24X7 renewable energy also comes at a time when globally, expanding clean energy consumption will be key to locking-in energy security.

India thus has the opportunity to cater to much beyond its own borders. Yet, to achieve this, it must move to a fully-integrated clean technology manufacturing ecosystem that is supported by reforms to Ease of Doing Business (EODB). The two are essential to India graduating from merely being a deployer of technologies to one that is proficient in cleantech manufacturing and product development, and by virtue of its regulatory environment, attracts top-tier collaborations that make Indian products synonymous with quality.

An independent analysis in 2020 suggested that, in general, it took 68 days to register a business in India at a cost of ~7.4% of the registered property’s value. This was adjudged to be much longer and costlier when compared to some high-income Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED) countries. Also, it was stated that a commercial dispute would take an average of 1,445 days (~four years) to be resolved — nearly three times the time it took in the OECD.