Green Growth in India: Pathways Toward Sustainable Economic Development

Abstract

Green growth — the pursuit of economic expansion while reducing the carbon and resource intensity of that growth — has moved from the margins to the centre of Indian economic policy over the past decade. This review examines the principal pathways through which India is pursuing green growth: renewable-energy expansion, green hydrogen and industrial decarbonisation, sovereign and private green finance, electric mobility, and resource-efficient and circular approaches to manufacturing and construction. India's non-fossil power capacity surpassed 51 per cent of total installed capacity in 2025, five years ahead of its Paris Agreement target; the National Green Hydrogen Mission, approved in 2023 with an initial outlay of roughly Rs 19,744 crore, targets 5 million tonnes of annual green hydrogen production by 2030; and the government's sovereign green bond programme, launched in 2023, has begun channelling public borrowing toward low-carbon infrastructure. This review assesses the macroeconomic case for green growth in India, surveys progress across these pathways, and identifies the financing, technology, and institutional constraints that will determine whether green growth becomes a durable engine of employment and competitiveness rather than a narrower decarbonisation exercise layered onto an otherwise unchanged growth model.