Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman and Managing Director of the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), has called for stronger alignment of policy, finance, and technology to accelerate India’s transition to green steel and enhance global competitiveness.
Speaking at India Steelex 2025 and the 37th National Conference on “Profitable Sustainability – Green Steel: A Future Ecosystem” at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Das chaired the session on “Financial Instruments: Driving Make-in-India Steel Globally.”
Das emphasized that India’s decarbonisation journey must be well-governed and multidimensional. “Green steel will not come from one solution; it rests on four drivers—renewable energy, green hydrogen, electric-arc furnaces with scrap, and carbon capture supported by a clear taxonomy,” he said. He added that a robust Green Taxonomy is critical to provide statutory clarity, transparent benchmarks, and investor confidence for emerging technologies.
Citing India’s progress in clean energy, Das noted that the country has achieved around 242 GW of renewable capacity, with nearly 50% of power generation from non-fossil sources as of August 2025. He highlighted the addition of 22 GW of renewable capacity in the first five months of the current fiscal year and commended Maharashtra’s leadership in renewables, along with initiatives like PM-KUSUM that are solarising agriculture.
Das underscored the importance of Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs) in sustaining demand and pointed out that nearly 80% of India’s renewable capacity is developed by private players, making large-scale capital mobilisation crucial.
Highlighting IREDA’s role, he said the agency has financed over ₹1.63 lakh crore in the past 38 years with cumulative write-offs of only around ₹135 crore, reflecting strong governance and recovery standards. He reaffirmed IREDA’s commitment to de-risking emerging sectors such as green hydrogen, storage, and solar manufacturing to enable India to adopt, manufacture, and export critical technologies.
He further outlined concessional and blended finance, green bonds, ESG-linked debt, and green public procurement as key tools to scale up green steel production.
“Make-in-India steel must shine globally—not only for volume, but for quality and sustainability,” Das concluded.
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