Ease of Doing Business and India’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Moment
India’s addition of over 45 GW of clean energy capacity in 2025 marks a decisive shift in its energy transition. Renewable power is no longer a marginal supplement but a core pillar of the electricity system, increasingly expected to deliver round-the-clock, dispatchable energy. As India moves from intermittent renewables to firm clean power, a larger strategic opportunity opens up: becoming a global manufacturing hub for clean energy technologies. Whether this opportunity is realised will depend less on ambitious targets and more on the depth and continuity of Ease of Doing Business (EODB) reforms.
Clean energy manufacturing as strategic leverage
Globally, energy security is being redefined. Control over solar modules, wind turbines, batteries, electrolysers and electric mobility components is fast becoming as important as access to oil once was. With the United States stepping back from multilateral climate leadership and South–South cooperation expanding, demand for affordable clean technologies is shifting towards new suppliers.
India is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. The Global South is scaling renewables and e-mobility but remains price-sensitive, while advanced economies are opening market access through trade agreements. India can serve both segments—if it builds a reliable manufacturing ecosystem that combines scale, cost efficiency and regulatory certainty.
The old constraint: regulatory friction
Historically, India’s manufacturing ambitions have been constrained by procedural complexity. Lengthy business registration timelines, costly land transactions, slow contract enforcement and regulatory unpredictability raised the cost of capital. For clean energy manufacturing—where projects are capital-intensive and globally competitive—such frictions translated directly into lost investment and delayed scaling.
Without reform, India risked remaining a large importer of green technologies despite being one of the world’s largest clean energy markets.
How EODB reforms altered the landscape
Over the past decade, India has undertaken significant reforms to address these bottlenecks. Compliance rationalisation, decriminalisation of minor offences, GST streamlining, single-window clearances, logistics improvements, faster electricity connections and a time-bound insolvency framework have collectively improved predictability.
These measures were reflected in India’s sharp rise in global EODB rankings before the index was discontinued. More importantly, they signalled intent. For investors, the direction of reform matters as much as its current endpoint.
State competition and its limits
Several States are now competing aggressively to attract clean-tech manufacturers, offering capital subsidies, concessional land and expedited approvals. This competitive federalism has created pockets of manufacturing momentum.
However, incentives cannot substitute for systemic ease. Manufacturers operate across State boundaries and rely on harmonised regulations, predictable clearances and consistent interpretation of rules. Without continuous EODB upgrades, State-level ambition risks being undermined by inter-departmental and inter-State friction.
Anchoring manufacturing through demand certainty
Manufacturing ecosystems do not emerge around sporadic tenders. They require credible, long-term demand signals. Clear trajectories for renewable capacity, electric mobility, storage deployment and green hydrogen adoption would justify investments in advanced manufacturing, testing and R&D infrastructure.
Such clarity would also help Indian manufacturers meet evolving global standards on quality, safety and life-cycle emissions—critical for export competitiveness.
The unfinished agenda
Key challenges remain. Secure access to critical minerals, faster environmental clearances without