With the national budget set to be presented on February 1, environment and energy experts speak of areas that need attention and allocation of funds.
Clean energy & grid needs
For many, clean energy and its flow are top priority, to secure the progress that has already started in the renewables sector.
“The success of India’s solar module manufacturing programme shows what’s possible with clear and consistent policy support. The next step is to focus on upstream parts of the supply chain — from solar cells and wafers to battery energy storage and modern grid infrastructure like high-voltage transmission — if India wants to secure its clean energy supply chain,” said Duttatreya Das, Energy Analyst, Asia, Ember, a global energy think-tank.
“But as we move upstream, the scale of capital required rises sharply, and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) alone won’t be enough. What’s really needed are incentives that reduce the heavy upfront investment burden, such as capital subsidies or accelerated depreciation, to unlock investments,” Das added.
India has crossed the milestone of meeting 50 per cent of its electricity generation infrastructure through non-fossil fuel sources. “The Union budget is expected to further push India’s efforts towards powering its energy transition. A budget focused on policies for grid modernisation and green manufacturing would further boost the green energy ecosystem in the country,” said Aarti Khosla, founder-director, Climate Trends, a Delhi-based research organisation on environment and sustainability.
Storage concerns
While acknowledging the strides made by India in renewables, especially in solar energy, experts point at the lack of storage facilities, essential for uninterrupted supply.
“India has undoubtedly taken big strides in renewable energy growth. The next step to achieving 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 lies in addressing gaps and scaling storage nationwide by managing variability, reducing losses, and improving efficiency,” Saurabh Kumar, vice president, The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) India, said. “Budget allocations need to focus on Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in order to integrate storage with renewable energy to ensure a reliable power supply and grid stability. There is also a need to support digitisation of electricity equipment and technological innovation for system flexibility and balancing the grid,” Kumar added. He felt that attention must also be given to decentralised renewable energy (DRE), smaller green power generation units near the point of use, outside a centralised grid.
Critical minerals
“The foremost expectation from Union Budget 2026 is continuity and strengthening of policy and financial support for energy storage and the National Critical Minerals Mission. These are foundational for scaling up renewable energy and ensuring energy security,” said Vibhuti Garg, director South Asia, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). “Budgetary support under these schemes must clearly signal long-term commitment, so that investors have confidence that these are not short-term incentives but part of India’s structural pathway to achieving its 2030 renewable energy targets,” Garg continued.
States currently dependent on fossil fuel based industries “will require large-scale reskilling and upskilling to shift towards new clean energy industries and technologies”, the expert added.
Pushing the critical minerals agenda was also highlighted by other experts. “For India’s clean energy transition, critical minerals are no longer a secondary consideration, they are a strategic necessity,” said Saloni Sachdeva Michael, energy specialist, India Clean Energy Transition, IEEFA. “Budget 2026 can play a defining role in positioning India as a credible, resilient player in global critical mineral supply chains. Imports of key minerals like cobalt oxide, copper (ores and oxides), graphite (natural and synthetic), lithium (oxides and carbonate), and nickel (oxides and sulphates) rose from 1.5 million tonnes in FY2023–24 to 2.7 million tonnes in FY2024–25, an increase of nearly 80 per cent, underscoring India’s growing exposure to global supply risks,” Michael added.
Electric vehicles
Garg and other experts underlined the need to boost electrification of the commercial transport segment, especially heavy-duty vehicles, trucks and buses. Charith Konda, energy specialist at IEEFA, made several recommendations to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) in the budget, including reforming the Auto PLI ( production linked incentive) scheme and advanced chemistry cell (ACC) battery manufacturing.