India must focus on indigenous technology development, scale up domestic manufacturing, and build robust innovations in the battery ecosystem, said Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State at the Ministry of Science and Technology, on Wednesday.
While acknowledging the progress made, he said that India’s strategic focus should be on domestic manufacturing and innovation in the battery sector.
India must focus on indigenous technology development, scale up domestic manufacturing, and build robust innovations in the battery ecosystem, said Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State at the Ministry of Science and Technology, on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Battery Summit 2025, jointly hosted by WRI India and the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr Singh emphasised the importance of reflecting on India’s clean energy and energy transition journey by comparing the progress of the last ten years with the previous decade.
“From fragile five, we have risen to first five in terms of our economy, and only day before yesterday, we became the fourth and very soon, as per projections, we will be number three,” he said, highlighting India's improved ranking in the 2024 Global Innovation Index, where the country moved up from 81 to 39.
Referring to the significant rise in funding for science and technology, Dr Singh noted: “It has gone from Rs 2,777 crore in 2014 to Rs 28,509 crore in 2025. That marks a 926% increase in 10 years.”
While acknowledging the progress made, he cautioned against complacency. “I think now the time has come to lay down the objectives for 2047,” he said, reiterating India’s strategic focus on domestic manufacturing and innovation in the battery sector. “These alone will be the key to our further success,” he added.
Dr Singh underscored the critical role batteries will play in the future and cited several key government initiatives aimed at advancing this sector. These include the PM E-Drive Programme launched in 2024, the Master Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles scheme that began in 2019, and the Wired Energy Fund for Battery Energy Storage Systems, initiated about two years ago.
The summit also featured a special preview of the ‘Battery Aadhar Initiative’—a unique identifier system for India’s battery systems—unveiled as part of the Battery Technologies Showcase, which highlighted innovations across the battery value chain.