India not a sweet spot for green tech to spur
By Eureka Bharali   |   Wednesday, 01 April 2009, 15:26 IST   |    13 Comments
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India not a sweet spot for green tech to spur
Bangalore: At a time when green technology is supposed to be a better bet to control costs, the lack of proper awareness, hesitation and inept legislation restricts its momentum in India. "Companies have not yet accepted this technology completely. There is hesitation, unless they are planning for some new processes," said Nelvin Josheph, CEO of a green tech start-up Artin Dynamics, who deals in phantom power control. It is the cutting edge technology providers, who face a bigger setback in this developing economy. "If green tech involves developing cutting edge technologies then the associated risk, early adaptation etc. and the premium that comes with it are more suitable for developed countries. The developing countries could be a generation behind and are still investing in proven technologies," said Kumar Shiralagi, Managing Director, NEA-Indo US Ventures, India. The sector also fails to lure investments from companies with limited fund. "We might look at low capex intensive companies in that space, but we look at them as software-for-clean-tech applications," said Parag Dhol, Director, Inventus Capital Partners. Currently, the global green tech market is about $6 trillion in which the market share of India is negligible. There are around 35 companies in this domain in India, which comprise of nearly 25 startups. "Though for some of the initiatives the payback on the investment needed will be more, the recession is a good time to have a hard look at green initiatives," said Parthasarathy N S, CEO for the Independent Testing and IMTS businesses at MindTree. Portraying the green tech initiatives in the IT sector, Hewlett Packard (HP)'s Head ESS, Faisal M. Paul said, "Apart from green datacenters, the other green initiatives in the IT industry include leveraging virtualization technologies, asset lifecycle planning. HP too offers hardware donation, leasing, reuse and asset recovery services."

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