Summary: This article introduces India’s first national geothermal energy policy, marking a strategic leap in diversifying renewable energy sources. The policy adds immense value by unlocking geothermal’s potential for power, heating, cooling, and industrial use, with support from global standards, fiscal incentives, and oil-gas sector synergies.Continue Reading Turning Up The Heat: India’s First National Geothermal Energy Policy Unveiled
Summary: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has ushered in a new era for India’s wind energy sector with its notification on July 31, 2025, which rebrands the Revised List of Models and Manufacturers (RLMM) as the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (Wind), or ALMM (Wind). Beyond a simple name change, the notification represents a comprehensive policy overhaul designed to address critical issues of quality control, national security, and domestic industrial growth. Continue Reading Winds of Change: MNRE Prioritises Quality and Security with New ALMM Rules
India is making bold strides towards becoming a global semiconductor and electronics manufacturing leader. The aggregate valuation of the semiconductor market here stood at USD 53.2 billion in 2024 and is poised to expand at a compounded annual growth rate of 12.45% to reach USD 161 billion by 2033[1]. Recognising the sector’s ambition and potential, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry introduced significant amendments to the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Rules in June 2025, a pivotal milestone in this journey.Continue Reading India’s semiconductor surge: SEZ reforms set the stage for global leadership
Environmental attributes represent the characteristics of electric power generation that have an intrinsic value (excluding the energy output), arising from perceived environmental benefits of electricity generation from renewable sources, that result in the avoidance of adverse impact on the environment. For renewable energy generators (RE Generators) to realise tangible benefits from environmental attributes, various renewable energy tracking systems have evolved. These help RE Generators to monetise the green component of electricity, by selling environmental attributes to various entities (both obligated and voluntary), thereby creating much required liquidity. RE Generators in India have been realising the benefits of environmental attributes by registering their projects under the renewable energy certificate (RECs) mechanism, and various other international programmes, as outlined below.Continue Reading Evolution of Environmental Attributes in India
A move that may prove to be a game-changer but the proof lies in the pudding
A government procurement contract (GPC) for goods and/ or services usually requires the elected counterparty (Contractor) to furnish a bank guarantee (BG) of upto 5-10% of the contract value as performance security, as per General Financial Rules 2017. Rising non-performing assets, in recent years, have prompted banks to exercise greater caution while issuing BGs, due to which, the cost of procuring a BG has gone up from 20-40 basis points to 50-130 basis points and the cash margin required for securing a BG has also increased from 15-20% to 40-100% of the amount of the BG. Owing to these factors, the procurement of a BG has become increasingly cumbersome for Contractors and they have been long-advocating the need for an alternative to BGs.Continue Reading Replacement of bank guarantees with surety bonds in government procurement: A welcome relief?