India’s renewable energy ambitions will succeed only if the country sharply reduces dependence on imported clean energy technologies while attracting significantly higher foreign direct investment (FDI) into the sector, according to Devansh Jain, executive director, INOXGFL Group.

Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2026, Jain said India’s energy transition is no longer just about sustainability goals but about securing long-term economic resilience, energy independence, and manufacturing leadership at a time of rising geopolitical uncertainty and supply chain disruptions.

“Countries that control clean energy supply chains will shape the economic future of the world,” Jain said, arguing that India must deepen domestic manufacturing capabilities across solar modules, cells, wind turbines, storage technologies, green hydrogen equipment, and power electronics.

He said India’s renewable energy journey cannot rely solely on imported technologies and supply chains. “True energy independence requires manufacturing independence across the entire value chain,” he said.

He underlined the importance of large-scale foreign capital flows into the sector. “We’ve attracted close to about $23 billion in the past 25 years. We’ll need to extrapolate this multiple times as we move forward,” he said.

Jain’s remarks come amid growing concerns around global energy security and foreign exchange pressures following recent tensions in the Middle East. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent emphasis on reducing forex outflows, Jain said India’s rapid renewable energy expansion has helped the country keep external dependencies under control despite a massive scale-up over the past decade.

“While in the wind sector, we are more or less Atmanirbhar, we are rapidly moving towards Atmanirbharta across the solar value chain as well,” he said.

Next phase will need scale, speed and capital

Jain said India has already demonstrated that renewable energy can become mainstream power infrastructure rather than remain an alternative energy source. He described India as the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy market, supported by policy stability, institutional backing, and increasing private sector participation.

But he cautioned that the next phase of growth would require a different approach focussed on execution at scale.

“The first phase of India’s journey was about proving viability. The next phase is about achieving scale with speed while simultaneously building self-reliance,” he said.

India has set a target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity, though Jain noted that discussions are already underway around increasing that ambition further, including to 750 GW.

According to him, the country’s renewable energy goals will require accelerated execution across the entire ecosystem, including generation, transmission, storage, financing, manufacturing, and skilling.

He identified three critical priorities for the sector. The first is faster project implementation through coordinated land acquisition, transmission connectivity, and environmental clearances. The second is grid modernisation, including storage systems and balancing mechanisms, as renewable energy penetration increases. The third is maintaining affordability while ensuring long-term policy stability for developers and manufacturers.

“Maintaining affordability while ensuring healthy returns for developers and manufacturers will require stable policies to lower financing costs and ensure continued confidence from global and domestic investors,” he said.

He added that India now has an opportunity to emerge not only as one of the world’s largest renewable energy markets but also as a global clean energy manufacturing and technology hub.

“The next decade will define the global energy order, and I firmly believe the next decade is for us to make ours,” Jain said.