What India’s MSMEs want from the budget to scale up renewable energy adoption

India’s 64 million small business community is the backbone of its economy. It contributes to a third of the country’s GDP, while providing employment to over 11 crore people. But the MSME sector is in the throes of change, debilitated by the economic impact of Covid-19 restrictions, and is desperately seeking ways to adapt to a changed reality.
This changed reality is reflected in the dissipated and hybrid economic space that this sector is also part of now – a space that is at once catering to online and physical retail, or being part of supply chains that are virtual. All of this has forced MSMEs to find ways to increase operational efficiency and minimise costs, as margins and profits shrink.
At COP26 last November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to get the country to carbon neutrality (means sucking out as much carbon as India emits into the atmosphere) by 2070, and announced an ambitious plan to produce half the energy the nation consumes from renewables. The country’s growing renewable sector is expected to play a leading role in bridging this gap, and indeed, benefit from policies that would enable accelerated renewable energy production. But to scale the adoption of renewables requires robust participation from the country’s MSME sector.