Chandrajeet Banerjee, Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said that he expects to see indication of the allocation of funds for green transition in the Interim Budget which will be announced on Thursday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Speaking during a CII panel discussion, part of CNBC-TV18's special 'Budget Countdown', Banerjee highlighted that India has emerged as one of the leaders in combating climate change. India has taken action with regards to electric mobility, green hydrogen and slashing fossil fuel consumption. He also emphasised the launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance at the G20 Summit in India in September 2023, which aims to boost biofuel consumption. Banerjee said, “Climate change is a space where India has taken phenomenal leadership, and you are seeing the type of action taken with regards to electric mobility and many other areas, be it the Bio Fuel Alliance, green hydrogen, or the way we are bringing down fossil fuel.” He stressed on the need to define 'green' in the budget to refrain from greenwashing. To achieve the goal of net-zero India by 2070, there is a need to penetrate the hard-to-evade sectors.
Banerjee said, “There are three different areas that would be of critical importance: the green transition fund, the definition of 'green', and bringing different pathways onto one page: ministries, states and industry sectors.”