The BGA India Team, led by Managing Director Ratan Shrivastava, wrote an update to clients on India’s recent diplomatic engagements.

Context

  • India recently concluded several high-profile bilateral and multilateral ministerial meetings, in which it advanced key priorities related to its clean energy, finance and technology sectors. The most significant of these engagements included outcomes of India’s Group of 20 (G-20) presidency and new economic developments shaping the country’s business landscape, particularly in the renewable energy space.

Significance

  • Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s visit to India from July 27-28 gives further impetus to Japan-India relations following Kishida’s visit for the Japan-India Summit in Delhi earlier this year. Japanese Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and Indian Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw recently signed a memorandum of understanding on semiconductors, which includes collaboration on design and manufacturing.
  • U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry visited India from July 25-29. He met with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior government officials to advance shared objectives on renewable and clean energy, including efforts to build an investment platform. In Chennai, the fourth and final Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group was followed by the Environment and Climate Sustainability Ministerial Meeting on July 28, which Kerry attended. The ministerial focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation and climate finance.
  • Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep S. Puri and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm held the U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership Ministerial Meeting on July 18 in New Delhi. Their joint statement underscored the importance of the partnership and the sustainable energy transition. It welcomed ongoing collaboration between the two countries on emerging renewable energy technologies, particularly green hydrogen, and engagement through the Low-Emissions Gas Task Force to reduce emissions across the natural gas sector.
  • The G-20 Energy Transition Ministerial Meeting concluded without a joint communique; however, an outcome document and a chair’s summary were released. Language around the Russia-Ukraine war was a major sticking point. Russia wanted the communique to mention the destruction of its gas pipelines, which have jeopardized its energy security.
  • The 14th Clean Energy Ministerial and the eighth Mission Innovation Ministerial took place between July 19-22 on the sidelines of the G-20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting. The meetings gathered governments, international organizations, the private sector, academia, innovators, civil society and policymakers. They featured high-level ministerial dialogues, global initiative launches, minister-CEO roundtables and a wide array of side events cutting across various themes of the clean energy transition.

Implications

  • International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol recently said India could play a pivotal role in the global energy transition and be a green hydrogen leader due to its lower cost of renewable energy generation. Birol said India could significantly increase foreign investment into its green energy sector if it simplifies its bureaucratic procedures. In the past few years, the Indian government has introduced measures to create an enabling policy environment for green hydrogen, including recent guidelines on production-linked incentive schemes for electrolyzer manufacturing and green hydrogen production.
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected a growth rate of 6.1 percent for India in 2023 — an increase of 0.2 percentage points from April’s projection. According to the IMF, this reflects momentum from better-than-expected growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to stronger domestic investment. Global growth is projected to fall from an estimated 3.5 percent in 2022 to 3 percent in 2023 and 2024.

We will keep you updated on relevant developments. If you have questions or comments, please contact BGA India Managing Director Ratan Shrivastava at ratan@bowergroupasia.com.

Best regards, BGA India Team

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