Govt launches USD 4 mn cleantech project for SMEs

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Saurabh Gupta | 04 May, 2013
In order to promote Cleantech ecosystem among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Ministry of MSME in association with Global Environment Facility (GEF) Friday launched a USD 4 million GEF - UNIDO Cleantech Project in New Delhi.

"Of the total funding, the ministry will provide USD 3 million and grant of USD 1 million will come from the GEF for a period of three years to help small units to use clean energy and become energy efficient," MSME Secretary Madhav Lal said at a FICCI function.

"Industry Bodies can play a very important role in creating a comprehensive ecosystem for cleantech interventions in SMEs through this project," he added.

India is the first country, out of ten, where this project was launched. The project will focus on building a road-map for promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy in India through an interdisciplinary approach involving SME clusters, ministries, academia, industry associations, state governments, partner agencies and autonomous research centres globally and in other developing countries.

Recognizing the criticality to share and document best practices that can help enhance productivity in SMEs and mitigate climate change, the project would closely coordinate with similar international effort. The Cleantech Project will have a special focus on linking innovators to investors.

Launching the project, Dr Naoko Ishii, said that it is crucial to change the way we produce, consume and invest. She emphasized on the growing need to focus on food security, electricity, water and the need to make cities sustainable. She emphasized on the role of the private sector in catalyzing innovations in clean technology.

Amarendra Sinha, Development Commissioner, MSME, said, "By 2025 all SMEs would make the shift to energy efficient technology. He highlighted the importance of access to technology, expertise, skilling and change management for achieving the goals of the project together with the role of regulators to create a clean technology market."

Shashi Shekhar, Additional Secretary and GEF Focal Point, MoEF, GoI said that in order to scale up ideas and bring about measurable outcomes we need to bring about a market transformation and regulators need to play an important role in helping create the demand for renewable energy.

Dr Arbind Prasad, Director General, FICCI, while speaking at the launch of the GEF - UNIDO Cleantech Project, said that the project has the potential to create entrepreneurs and innovators who can provide solutions that are scalable and replicable. He also said that this project will create an ecosystem to spur cleantech innovation, adoption and implementation among SMEs in India and be a trailblazer for other countries.

The cleantech approach and methodologies adopted under the project would build on the Green Industry initiative, and go a step further by focussing on innovative SMEs through an ecosystem approach to promote clean energy technologies and systems.