From Deployment to Dominance: Why Ease of Doing Business Will Decide India’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Future

India added more than 45 GW of clean energy capacity in 2025, signalling that renewables are no longer peripheral to its power system. With round-the-clock renewable energy tenders — including from Indian Railways — the focus has shifted from intermittent green power to dispatchable, reliable clean energy. This transition opens a far larger opportunity: for India to move beyond deploying imported technologies and emerge as a global manufacturing hub for clean technologies. Whether India seizes that opportunity will depend less on targets alone and more on how decisively it reforms its Ease of Doing Business (EODB) framework.

Why clean energy manufacturing is the next strategic frontier

Globally, energy security is increasingly being defined by access to clean energy — solar modules, wind turbines, batteries, electrolysers and EV components. With the U.S. withdrawing again from the Paris Agreement and South–South cooperation accelerating, the demand for affordable, reliable clean technologies is shifting toward new suppliers.

India is well placed to step in. Countries across the Global South — including South Africa, Kenya, Chile and Vietnam — are scaling renewables, e-mobility and green hydrogen, but need competitively priced equipment. Advanced economies such as Japan, South Korea, the UK, Australia and potentially the EU also offer market access through upcoming trade agreements. India can cater to all of them — if it builds a credible manufacturing ecosystem.

The old bottleneck: doing business in India

The ambition to manufacture at scale has long run up against India’s regulatory friction. As late as 2020, independent assessments showed it took an average of 68 days to register a business in India, at a cost of around 7.4% of property value. Resolving a commercial dispute took nearly four years — about three times longer than in high-income OECD economies.

For capital-intensive sectors like cleantech manufacturing, such delays translate directly into higher costs, longer time-to-market and weaker investor confidence. Over time, this would have limited both India’s startup ecosystem and its ability to attract foreign direct investment.

How EODB reforms changed the trajectory

Recognising this constraint, India undertook a series of structural reforms: Jan Vishwas–style compliance rationalisation, decriminalisation of minor business offences, GST streamlining, single-window clearances, smoother customs and logistics rules, faster electricity connections, and time-bound insolvency resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (2016).

The impact was visible. By 2019, India had climbed 79 places on the global EODB rankings, reaching 63rd out of 190 countries. While rankings alone are not destiny, the direction of travel mattered — especially for manufacturing investors seeking predictability.

States race ahead, but regulation must keep up

States such as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are already competing to attract cleantech manufacturers. Their packages combine capital subsidies (in some cases up to 40%), concessional land, fast-track approvals and targeted support for emerging sectors like green hydrogen.

These initiatives are likely to spur domestic manufacturing capacity. But incentives alone cannot compensate for regulatory uncertainty. Manufacturers need to operate seamlessly across State borders, scale facilities quickly, and rely on predictable interpretations of rules across departments. Without continuous EODB upgrades, State-level ambition risks being blunted by procedural drag.

Why long-term demand signals matter

Manufacturing ecosystems do not form around short-term tenders; they grow around credible, long-term demand. India can anchor such confidence by committing to clear trajectories — for instance, 1,500 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2040, 80% of new vehicle sales as EVs, full electrification of freight and public transport, and accelerated deployment of energy storage well ahead of current projections.

These signals would justify investments in advanced manufacturing, testing, certification and R&D facilities co-located with factories. They would also shorten time-to-market and ensure Indian products meet global standards on quality and life-cycle emissions — increasingly critical in export markets.

Critical gaps: minerals, data and coordination

Even with demand and incentives, manufacturing scale depends on secure access to critical minerals, components and supply chains. Clarity on jurisdictions between ministries, smoother inter-State operations and predictable environmental clearances are essential to avoid costly delays.

Equally important is dynamic regulation. EODB cannot be a one-time reform package; it must be iterative. Regular, candid engagement with manufacturers and investors is needed to test whether reforms are actually working on the ground — and to fix them when they are not.

What is at stake for India

Clean energy manufacturing is not just an industrial opportunity; it is a geopolitical one. As global supply chains diversify and climate finance unlocks new markets, countries that combine scale, quality and ease of business will shape the next energy order.

India has already shown it can deploy renewables at speed. The harder — and more valuable — task now is to build an integrated clean technology manufacturing ecosystem that global buyers trust. If EODB reforms keep pace with ambition, India can graduate from being a large consumer of green technologies to a global supplier — strengthening energy security at home while capturing markets abroad.