Finance

Ratul Puri, Chairman of Hindustan Power, speaks to pv magazine about the key challenges in scaling renewable energy deployment, the growing role of battery storage and carbon markets, and Hindustan Power’s strategy in supporting India’s clean energy transition.

While the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) aims to create regulatory and institutional enablers to develop the critical minerals supply chain, focused capital expenditure is needed to accelerate large-scale mining, refining, and processing. The NCMM creates intent and incentives, but outcomes will depend on institutional execution.

India and the European Union (EU) have launched a €15.2 million (INR 169 crore) joint funding programme to advance recycling technologies for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, under the India–EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) Working Group 2 on Green and Clean Energy Technologies.

While a significant share of state-run energy firms’ current fossil fuel capital expenditure is tied to ongoing projects, new and incremental investments can be progressively rebalanced toward clean energy, says Deepak Sharma, a consultant at the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Clean energy subsidies for renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs) represent only 10% of India’s total energy subsidies. Though gradually expanding, these remain vulnerable to global oil price shocks due to structural fiscal dependence on oil and gas revenues. 

ReNew, a Nasdaq-listed renewable energy company, will break ground today on its 6 GW solar ingot and wafer manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will lay the foundation stone at the project site in Anakapalli district.

The growing availability of financing options has had a visible impact on solar adoption. States with well-developed financing ecosystems and supportive policies have recorded significantly higher growth in rooftop installations. In some regions, adoption rates have increased multiple times within a short period.

CRISIL Ratings has assigned ‘A-/Stable’ long-term and ‘A2+’ short-term ratings to the bank facilities of SAEL Industries Ltd (SIL), a vertically integrated renewable energy company.

India’s ambition to achieve a 60% non-fossil fuel share in its energy mix by 2035 faces a critical financing challenge, with annual investment in renewables, storage, and transmission projected to rise sharply from $68 billion by 2032 to $145 billion by 2035—according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The amended FDI policy for investments from countries sharing land borders with India aims to attract capital and technology for critical solar components—such as cells, wafers, and polysilicon—while retaining strategic control of assets with domestic entities. Industry experts say it could accelerate renewable energy infrastructure and manufacturing, but it also carries risks, including pricing pressure, making careful regulatory oversight essential.