CIOInsider India Magazine

Rachita Sharma, Managing Editor
 

Not long ago, cleantech was a small corner of India's economy. Now it sits close to the heart of the country's growth plans. One estimate values the market at about $33.6 billion in 2025 and expects it to reach roughly $152.5 billion by 2030. The change is easier to see in the numbers on the ground. Installed renewable capacity has gone from 76.38 GW in 2014 to 288.58 GW by mid-2026, and 162.15 GW of that is solar. India is now third in the world for installed renewable capacity, and non-fossil sources make up nearly half of its total installed power capacity.

Investors have clearly noticed. The renewable energy sector has drawn about $45.72 billion in foreign direct investment since FY2014, and at Davos this year India said it hopes to attract $300 billion to $350 billion in clean-energy investment by 2030. Startups are part of the story too. India has around 2,814 cleantech companies, 460 of which have been funded, and together they have raised more than $13.1 billion.

Why does it matter beyond the headline figures? For one, clean power is central to India's goal of reaching 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030. It can also cut the country's reliance on imported fuel, create jobs, and strengthen local manufacturing. That case gets stronger whenever oil prices swing, as they have lately.

None of this is easy, though. Skilled workers are getting harder to find, and women make up just 11% of the cleantech workforce, according to one study. The power grid and energy storage will also have to grow quickly to keep up with new renewable capacity.

Even so, India has the scale, policy backing, rising domestic demand and investor interest to remain one of the world's key cleantech markets for the next decade.

Read on and let us know your thoughts