New Delhi: The Government of India through the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme will be providing incentives to the tune of USD 26 billion which also includes sunrise sectors of electric vehicles and solar power, said NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Friday.

“The Government of India through the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme will be providing incentives to the tune of USD 26 billion, which also includes sunrise sectors of electric vehicles and solar power. India has been the second fastest growing market in sustainable investments,” he added.

Kant, while addressing the report launch event ‘India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group by FICCI and City of London Corporation,’ said that India needs substantial investments to the tune of USD 260 billion every year to meet its sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Reiterating that NITI Aayog is committed to ensuring the development of policy frameworks for accelerating sustainable finance flows in India to achieve its SDGs, he said that India has been the second fastest growing market in sustainable investments.

Uday Shankar, president, FICCI, said that sustainable finance and climate change imperatives are closely intertwined, each being the trigger for the other. “As we move towards COP-26, the climate conference of parties in Glasgow later this year to be presided over by the UK, the India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group can play a catalytic role in bringing clear implementable solutions to enable the policy ecosystem and market creation for sustainable finance in India to meet India’s climate priorities and sustainable development goals,” he added.

Lord Mayor of the City of London Alderman William Russell said that he was delighted that the UK is working ever more closely with Indian partners as the UK looks towards its hosting of COP26 later this year. “The UK India Sustainable Finance Working Group exemplifies these efforts and has gathered huge momentum to drive new capital into India’s sustainable finance framework,” he added.

Hitendra Dave, India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group and Managing Director and Head of Global Banking and Markets, HSBC India, called the report as being one of the most comprehensive bodies of work on the sustainable finance agenda, and yet practical from the point of clear short-term and long-term recommendations that can now be picked up by relevant authority or regulators for further examination.

Richard Abel, UK Co-Chair, India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group in India, and Managing Director, UK Climate Investments said that bringing together the UK, City of London innovation and expertise with Indian market leaders has led to focussed, concrete proposals to increase sustainable capital flows.

Dr C S Mohapatra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, said that the recommendations need to be fructified in a time bound manner. He suggested that the right regulatory regime with right incentives to investors are important. Dr Mohapatra congratulated his counterparts in HMT, Government of UK, his colleagues in the Ministry of Finance, co-chairs of the working group, FICCI and COL on the report launch.

Richard Knox, Director, Financial Services (International), HMT, noted that sustainable finance is an important agenda for the UK and India as massive amounts of such capital will be required by 2035. He said that he was pleased to see UK-India collaboration on sustainable finance.

Natalie Toms, Chief Economist and Counsellor, British High Commission, Delhi said that it was good to see that the India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group was recognised during 10th economic and financial dialogue between the Governments of India and the UK. The report makes important recommendations to accelerate sustainable finance flows in India, she added. /BI/