India preparing for global role in shift towards 'greener' future: MoS
Published: Mar 28, 2026
By TIOLCorplaws News Service
NEW DELHI, MAR 28, 2026: UNION Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh yesterday said that India's clean energy transition is part of a larger national strategy aimed at reducing import dependence, strengthening indigenous capacities, and enabling the country to play a leading role in the global shift towards a greener future.
Addressing the Planet C3 Summit on Climate, Circularity and Community, the Minister said the clean energy agenda spans a wide spectrum, from securing critical resources such as lithium and rare earth-based permanent magnets to scaling up domestic manufacturing, accelerating innovation, and introducing new policy interventions.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said India has emerged as an important global voice in the transition towards sustainable development, and maintaining this position requires both accelerated scaling of existing initiatives and the launch of new ones in a time-bound manner.
Highlighting the growing demand for critical materials, Dr. Jitendra Singh said sectors such as electric mobility, renewable energy, electronics manufacturing, space, and defence are increasingly dependent on resources like lithium and permanent magnets. The Minister said India currently meets a large share of its requirement through imports, making it necessary to rapidly build domestic capacity.
Referring to the gap between demand and production, the Minister said the country's requirement of permanent magnets is expected to rise sharply in the coming years. While domestic capacity is being expanded in phases, demand is projected to outpace supply, making faster scaling essential to meet future needs.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said India has already taken steps in this direction, including the establishment of its first indigenous permanent magnet plant in Visakhapatnam, with planned capacity expansion in subsequent phases. He added that recent policy initiatives, including a dedicated rare earth magnet policy, are aimed at strengthening domestic supply chains.
Minister of Science & Technology said energy security remains central to India's technological growth, particularly in the context of emerging sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, which require reliable and continuous power supply. He said nuclear energy is being developed as a dependable source to support such future demands, with the Nuclear Energy Mission targeting a significant increase in capacity by 2047 through a phased and time-bound approach.
The Minister said the decision to enable wider participation in the nuclear sector reflects a shift towards a more integrated and collaborative development model, bringing together government and non-government stakeholders to accelerate progress in critical areas.
Dr Jitendra Singh said the government has adopted a mission-mode approach to support its clean energy and technology ambitions, with initiatives such as the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India AI Mission, National Quantum Mission, and biotechnology programmes forming part of a broader, interconnected strategy.
He highlighted these efforts are complemented by increased public investment in research and innovation, including a dedicated corpus to support research and development, as well as institutional mechanisms such as the National Research Foundation to strengthen the research ecosystem.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said structured interfaces have been created to facilitate collaboration between industry, academia, and government, replacing earlier fragmented approaches. He said such platforms are enabling identification of partners, scaling of technologies and alignment of research with market needs across sectors including space and biotechnology.
Referring to the evolution of India's innovation ecosystem, the Minister said the country has witnessed rapid growth in startups, which are generating large-scale employment and contributing to technological advancement. He noted that a significant proportion of startups are led by women, reflecting changing dynamics in the innovation landscape.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said the scale of the challenge requires both urgency and coordination, as the pace of demand in critical sectors continues to rise. He said India's approach combines self-reliance with global engagement, ensuring that its progress in clean energy and advanced technologies contributes to both national priorities and global sustainability goals.
