Green energy could make Indian products cheaper
India needs to focus on its current cost-effective industrial sector, medium quality products with islands of excellence, lack of high value, cutting-edge product leading to low exports, decent value-added growth but low job growth, low green manufacturing practices and high cost of power and logistics as well as high cost of capital, says Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.
“Green industries will be the industries of the future as the world is moving away from old high-carbon energy,” he said in his opening remarks at the Plenary Session: “India’s Development Transition and Climate Change” on the second day of the CII Annual Meeting held virtually 11-12 Aug 2021.
India’s strategy for growth is to focus on developing Green Hydrogen that can be made available at competitive rates which will, according to Kant, make other forms of energy redundant especially in heavy carbon-guzzling industries like steel and transportation among others.
India actively is looking to invest in R&D in developing Green Hydrogen, he added.
In the next 5 years, he said, solar prices could come down to Rs.1 per unit, making India’s green products cheaper. This can be achieved through low cost of capital made available to investors.
In addition, Kant also highlighted the need for new ways of planning for urbanization by mandatorily redesigning and reinstating water recycling and harvesting mechanism to mitigate the impending water crisis.
He also called on Indian industry to adopt a three-pronged approach of “Go Green, Go Digital and Skill-your-Workers”.
“Developing digital reliance requires digital transformation of manufacturing, intelligent network of machines, and processes with IT and communication technology,” Kant stressed.
He emphasized on the need for deploying Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Analytics, Augmented Reality, Robotics, Cyber Security, Machine-to-Machine communication in order for manufacturing processes to create astute digital factories of tomorrow.
“We are in the midst of a new transition for a growth pathway defined by Climate Change,” said the CEO who has been at the helm of NITI Aayog’s initiatives to define and deploy India’s climate change goals. #energy #economy #manufacturing #investment /fiinews.com
