Pratyush Thakur, Investment Director and India Country Head at Blueleaf Energy, recently contributed a few of his thoughts on the climate capital crunch faced by India in clean energy investment, for the April edition of Outlook Business. Outlook Business, India’s leading financial magazine, offering in-depth coverage on India Inc., sustainability, emerging businesses, technology, and the political economy. Explore Pratyush’s insights on India clean energy investment in the Outlook Business article, “Despite Bold Targets, India’s Clean Energy Drive Lacks Investor Backing.

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(the following is an excerpt from the print edition of Business Outlook magazine)

The Climate Capital Crunch

India’s clean-tech start-ups are unable to scale in the absence of patient capital.
Investors and policymakers must work together to keep the cash flowing.

With climate action gaining momentum in India, a pack of clean-tech start-ups has taken off the blocks, their focus ranging from renewable energy to electric mobility. But to keep up with the global frontrunners in the sustainability race, these start-ups will need to find a way around a major stumbling block: capital.

And that’s no mean task, because, compared to fin-tech or deep-tech ventures, start-ups in the clean-tech space struggle to attract funds due to large capital costs, growth concerns, regulatory uncertainty and limited scalability.

In 2024, energy transition attracted $2.1trn in funding globally, 11% higher than the previous year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s “2025 Energy Transition Investment Report”. But this statistic hides a perturbing downtrend: the investment growth through the preceding three years was two-and-a-half times higher, ranging between 24% and 29%.

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