India will see a five-fold growth in green investments to ~Rs 31 lakh crore between 2025 and 2030, Crisil said during its flagship India Infrastructure Conclave 2025 held in New Delhi today.

This is a crucial part of an estimated ~$10 trillion investments needed through 2070 to achieve the country’s net-zero goals as per the Updated First Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

Among India’s key NDC commitments are a 45% reduction in the carbon intensity of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 from 2005 levels, and an increase in the share of cumulative installed power capacity from non-fossil-fuelbased energy resources to 50%.

Says Amish Mehta, Managing Director & CEO, Crisil Limited, “As the fastest-growing large economy over the medium term, India has a window of opportunity to balance its developmental and environmental aspirations and priorities. Our energy needs will only accelerate from here, so a balanced transition to net-zero is crucial. For sure, notable strides have been made towards our green goals. Based on the plans announced by the government and corporates, and progress on the ground, we estimate Rs 31 lakh crore of green investments through 2030. Accelerating grants and incentives, scaling up blended finance initiatives with multilaterals, policy support and flexibility to drive initiatives for carbon market development and industrial decarbonisation are imperatives in the road ahead.”

Of the Rs 31 lakh crore investments foreseen, ~Rs 19 lakh crore is seen going into renewable energy and storage, ~Rs 4.1 lakh crore into transport and automotive sectors, and ~Rs 3.3 lakh crore into oil & gas.

The annual Crisil Infrastructure Conclave provides stakeholders a platform to discuss and generate ideas, actions and reforms to drive India’s build-out. The theme this year is ‘Navigating India’s decarbonisation journey’, with focus on three dimensions - sectoral decarbonisation pathways and challenges; greening infrastructure and urban mobility; and financing of decarbonisation.

The event saw the release of the Crisil Infrastructure Yearbook 2025, by the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Shri Pralhad Joshi, in the presence of policymakers, financiers, CEOs from hard-to-abate industries, energy and infrastructure, representatives of funding agencies and other stakeholders.

The yearbook includes a unique national index, the Crisil InfraInvex, which has been measuring the investability or ‘investment attractiveness’ of select infrastructure sectors since 2017. The latest scores indicate the momentum is stable or improving in most of the 12 infrastructure segments tracked on dimensions such as policy, regulation, financials, operations and sustainability. Four power-linked sectors - renewables, conventional generation, transmission, and distribution - have done well due to improving policy framework and investment opportunities.

Mining and the EV ecosystem saw some loss of investment attractiveness. The mining sector can benefit from sharper focus on critical minerals, while the EV ecosystem awaits the next round of policy interventions.

That said, funding the massive investments remains a challenge.

For established technologies with relatively lower risk profile, such as solar power, wind power and two-wheeler EVs, there is adequate debt finance available through banks, sector-focused development finance institutions and bond markets. The development of the green bond markets is likely to provide significant opportunity, too. Besides, robust capital markets, monetisation of operational assets through secondary sale and infrastructure investment trusts can ensure adequate equity funding.

However, for relatively high-risk projects such as green hydrogen, CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage), energy storage and other emerging technologies, government grants and incentives will hold the key in improving project viability.

Reliance on equity will be high here and the private sector, specialised climate/venture funds and multilaterals will have a greater role. Further, blended finance and first-loss guarantee structures through multilaterals will be important to ensure scaling up of some of these technologies in the initial phase.

Says Rahul Prithiani, Senior Director & Global Head, Energy and Sustainability, Crisil Intelligence, “India needs to balance its economic growth, energy security and environmental sustainability priorities and explore ways to overcome challenges such as financing gaps and technological barriers. Innovative financing can help ensure consistent investments. Given the reliance on climate funds, multilateral funding agencies and in the backdrop of integration of climate risk in the lending process by banks driven by the Reserve Bank of India, it is important that corporates enhance disclosure of ESG and sustainability-linked metrics.”

A collaborative approach involving the government, private sector, funding institutions, industry associations and developmental agencies will be crucial to transforming decarbonisation from a challenge into a cornerstone of the country’s growth strategy. International cooperation, too, can yield benefits - partnerships for technology transfer, concessional financing and expertise exchange through platforms such as the International Solar Alliance, to namesome.