India Highlights Economic Rise and Sustainability Roadmap at CII Roundtable in Davos

“India is the fourth largest economy today, and we are very shortly going to become the third largest economy”, said Mr Pralhad Joshi, Hon’ble Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, New and Renewable Energy, Government of India. He was speaking at a roundtable on “Delivering Sustainability at Scale: Pathways for Global Transformation” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) coinciding with the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos today.

Speaking at the session, Mr Joshi highlighted the need for greater investment in sustainability and grid stability. Despite substantial renewable-energy investment over the past decade, significantly more is required to reach the 500?GW target by 2030. He noted that India has already begun modernising its grid through digitalisation, smart metering, and decentralised renewable energy, which has strengthened system resilience and empowered citizens.

As India moves from the fourth-largest to soon the third-largest economy, the key need now is to ensure grid stability. While India is progressing with grid-forming technologies, support through technology sharing from developed countries, along with blended finance and capital investment, remains pivotal. He added that India offers strong returns on investment, supported by a stable regulatory regime and consistent policies that have helped transform it from a fragile economy into a global growth leader. Mr Joshi further emphasised that India offers strong returns on investment, with low NPAs, low inflation, rising production, and rapidly improving infrastructure.

Mr Hemant Soren, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Jharkhand discussed Jharkhand’s extensive mineral resources, which account for 42% of India's mineral resources, including iron ore, coal and many other important rare earths that are necessary for India's growth and development. He further emphasized the need to provide growth, development, and prosperity, while also protecting the state’s natural resources.

Mr Harsh Rameshkumar Sanghavi, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat stated that “Gujarat exemplifies sustainability at scale by transforming its industrial promise into a model of balanced growth, resource efficiency and environmental stewardship that aligns with global priorities. Gujarat has long been India's growth engine contributing excessively to national GDP, exports and manufacturing sector while leading sustainable practices that integrate economic ambition with environmental responsibility.”

Mr Nara Lokesh, Hon’ble Minister for Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Real Time Governance and HR Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh said “Looking ahead there are four guiding pillars for us in sustainability. First, is an ecosystem first approach, second is speed of doing business, third is investing in green jobs and skills and fourth is having policy certainty and efficiency.”

Mr Jayant Sinha, Chairman, CII India Sustainability Taskforce and President, Eversource Capital and Visiting Professor in Practice, LSE said that there are four major areas where government support remains beneficial. One is around reporting, taxonomy and standards, second is having a green financing agency, third is digitisation of our grids and fourth is to develop and strengthen and scale up our carbon markets.

Highlighting the importance of renewable energy, Mr R Dinesh, Past President, CII and Executive Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions Limited said India has not only just set the benchmark in terms of implementing sustainability, but most importantly taken the lead in making this into a commercially viable operation. The renewable energy capacity in India has reached close to 23% and has moved within one year by double-digit rates of growth, which is a testament to the large-scale expansion in solar power. 

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said “The Government of India has introduced many policies which have been of great value to us. Of these, one is the national carbon capture utilization and the CCTS framework which really is signaling our country's very strong amount of readiness to support the next generation of decarbonization technologies. The second is India's emerging climate taxonomy, which is another phenomenal development that brings transparency to sustainable finance.”

20 January 2026
Davos