Global Trade Shifts Create Cleantech Opportunity for India: Amitabh Kant
Geopolitical shocks have rocked international trade, creating an opportunity for India to become a leader in cleantech production and drive economic growth, according to Amitabh Kant, ex-NITI Aayog CEO and India's G20 Sherpa. Addressing the Centre for Science and Environment's annual Anil Agarwal Dialogue, he highlighted India's ability to dominate clean industries such as battery manufacturing and electric vehicle production.
It's a massive opportunity for India to do battery production. If we don't, we will become import-dependent, like oil," Kant cautioned, pointing out how China's dominance of key minerals increased after the U.S. pulled out of the Paris Agreement in 2016. He underlined that India needs to move fast to not fall behind in the clean-tech race.
But Kant identified glaring faults in India's urban administration, attributing increasing pollution and urban problems to bad management. "If 42 of the world's 50 most polluted cities are in India, that indicates a colossal governance failure," he said, pointing out that the problem is not due to inadequate central funding but local mismanagement.
He also emphasized the necessity of improved resource pricing to limit overconsumption. "India, whose population accounts for 17% of the world, controls just 4% of the world's water resources. And yet, 90% of our water goes into agriculture," he pointed out, citing rice and sugarcane as two prominent offenders. Kant contended that prevailing subsidies reward unsustainable behavior and advocated a tiered pricing system in which low-consumption houses pay less and heavy users pay more.
Taking cue from Singapore's meteoric growth from a $600 per capita income in 1965 to $90,000 today, Kant said that India, too, could follow suit with strong governance and systemic changes. "The solution lies in reforming the way we govern, pricing resources correctly, and grabbing this clean-tech opportunity to redefine India's future", he concluded.
Kant's words are a call to action for immediate policy measures and strategic investment, challenging India to move into position as a world clean-tech leader in a fast-changing world economy.
