Scaling India’s energy transition through business action
Santeri Palomäki, Senior Manager, Industry & Transport; Pallavi Ahuja, Manager, SME Climate Hub India; and Swapna Patil, Manager, SME Climate Hub
India’s energy transition represents a major opportunity for businesses to strengthen competitiveness, reduce costs and build resilience through clean energy. New guidance from We Mean Business Coalition aims to help companies of all sizes — especially MSMEs — unlock the benefits of the energy transition.
India’s energy transition will be one of the biggest shifts of the century. The country’s rapidly expanding renewable energy sector is already shaping the economics of clean energy: India now delivers some of the world’s lowest clean electricity tariffs, creating a major competitive advantage for Indian industry and green growth.
As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, India’s decisions will influence the global trajectory of emissions, investment flows and sustainable development outcomes.
Many Indian businesses are capitalizing on this favorable environment through renewable energy adoption, fleet electrification, energy efficiency improvements and low-carbon manufacturing.
To further support businesses as they navigate this transition, We Mean Business Coalition launched two new practical guidance resources, specifically developed for Indian companies:
- The Energy Transition Business Action Checklists, to help mid-sized and large companies transition their operations to clean and electrified energy uses across buildings, transport, industrial processes and electricity procurement.
- The Switching to Renewable Electricity in India guide under our SME Climate Hub to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in procuring renewable electricity.
These knowledge assets, developed in collaboration with Indian businesses, for Indian businesses, can provide a starting point for companies looking to start their clean energy transition. We recently unveiled these two guidance documents in a closed-door business-civil society convening in New Delhi. The convening brought together large and small companies to discuss barriers to the energy transition and identify opportunities for collaboration across value chains.
From that discussion, a major theme emerged: the importance of value chains — and particularly the central role of Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within India’s transition journey.
India’s growth story depends on MSMEs — and increasingly, so does its climate transition. India’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises support more than 250 million livelihoods, contributing nearly 30% of the country’s GDP and 45% of its manufacturing output. Yet when navigating the energy transition, these businesses often face the greatest operational and financial constraints.
And to ensure smaller businesses can meaningfully participate in the energy transition, they need access to tailored guidance, supply-chain collaboration, practical implementation support and locally relevant transition pathways.
Discussions also reinforced that sustainability initiatives must be linked to clear business outcomes. Whether through cost savings, operational efficiency, competitiveness, customer satisfaction or access to new markets, participants emphasized that business value remains one of the strongest drivers of adoption.
This discussion feels especially urgent in the current geopolitical context of ongoing instability in West Asia, rising fuel price volatility and growing concerns around energy depending on fossil fuel-based systems. At the same time, this moment presents an opportunity for India to accelerate electrification of industrial processes and adoption of renewable energy in ways that strengthen both economic resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Several speakers reflected on India’s evolving position within the global economy. While comparisons with China naturally emerged, participants noted that India has an opportunity to chart its own path — positioning itself as a globally competitive green industrial economy supported by cleaner manufacturing, resilient supply chains and low-carbon products increasingly preferred by global markets.
India’s energy transition is not an ambition challenge but an implementation challenge. Businesses often struggle with where to begin and how to navigate implementation.
For many Indian businesses to succeed, they will need stronger collaboration across value chains, practical support mechanisms, innovative financing and aggregation models and accessible guidance.
With such support, MSMEs navigate the transition with confidence to create more competitive and resilient businesses.