Budget 2023: Announcements from Sitharaman’s red book reiterate India’s green push

Budget 2023: Reading out a series of green initiatives from her red bahi khata (account book) by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has again put the focus back on India’s target of becoming a net carbon-zero economy by 2070. It is, therefore, no surprise then that the inclusion of green growth as one of the Saptarshis or seven priority areas of targeted growth in FY23-24 has been widely hailed by stakeholders in the world’s fifth-largest economy’s energy sector.

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“India is moving forward firmly for the panchamrit and net-zero carbon emission by 2070 to usher in green industrial and economic transition,” Sitharaman told Parliament on Wednesday, adding, “This budget builds on our focus on green growth.”

She then went on to comprehensively cover diverse aspects of climate change and energy transition under the Rs 35,000 crore allocated for the purpose. These comprise funding for the National Green Hydrogen Mission and biofuels, viability gap funding (VGF) for 4000 MWh of battery storage systems, capital support for a renewable energy project in the union territory of Ladakh, and establishment of a programme for facilitating green credit. 

“The vision for LiFE or Lifestyle for Environment is deeply ingrained in the budget and reaffirms the government's commitment to tackle the climate crisis. Globally, India ranks fourth in installed renewable energy capacity and the budget will give a further fillip to the addition of capacities in areas like wind and solar,” said CEO & managing director of Schneider Electric India, Anil Chaudhry. 

Commending the proposals, CEO of GE Gas Power South Asia, Deepesh Nanda felt they would not only result in the creation of a sustainable energy mix and infrastructure framework but also increase investments and jobs in the energy sector.

“India’s power consumption logged a double-digit growth on a YoY basis in this financial year, and it’s encouraging to see the government’s focus to reduce carbon-intensity of the economy by promoting the use of low-to-zero carbon-emitting fuels and hybrid models for power generation,” stated Nanda.

Creating a circular economy

The need for adopting a circular economy was also re-emphasised through an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in the GOBARdhan scheme, which focuses on managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste on farms into compost, biogas, and bio-CNG.

Chairman of wind and solar developer Avaada Group, Vineet Mittal, was of the view that the amount allocated for priority capital investment for energy transition and net zero would help with the multiplier effect spanning sectors such as green fuel, energy, farming, mobility, buildings, and equipment.

“The industry has long been advocating harnessing Ladakh’s higher solar potential, and allocating capital to create evacuation infrastructure will greatly boost the industry. The GOBARdhan Scheme for promoting a circular economy is another landmark step and will give a fillip to greening the economy,” he declared.

The industry expects the finance minister’s proposals to further accelerate the country’s transition to clean energy.

“Green hydrogen, pumped hydro, evacuation of renewable energy from Ladakh and inclusion of green credit in the Environment Protection Act will go a long way in decarbonising the Indian economy,” said the managing director & CEO of energy solutions firm, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) CESL, Vishal Kapoor.

Reiterating that the biomass opportunity could help power nearly 17 per cent of the country’s current energy needs, co-founder & CEO of bioenergy player, BiofuelCircle, Suhas Baxi said the proposals on biofuels would also help empower farmers.

“The biomass harnessing mechanism – its collection, aggregation, processing and storage – present itself as a rural enterprise opportunity at every stage of this supply chain. Not only it helps replace fossil fuels in the industry but also enables rural empowerment. This impacts even the smallest of farmer, producer of agricultural waste or biomass. Building a circular economy with the farmer at its centre is now within our grasp!” remarked a confident Baxi.

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