Speaking on the theme of ‘India’s Green Future Starts with Youth’ at a Yuva Sustainability Roundtable, Pratyush Thakur, Investment Director and Country Head (India) at Blueleaf Energy, highlights why young people are central to India’s sustainability journey. He notes that the climate crisis will most strongly impact the current generation, but it also presents a unique opportunity, allowing youth to turn this challenge into a meaningful economic and developmental pathway. Blueleaf Energy is a leading pan-Asian renewable energy platform specialising in utility-scale renewable projects. He emphasises that today’s young people are not just future stakeholders but active participants in shaping solutions. By engaging with the green economy, building relevant skills, and contributing innovative ideas, youth can play a decisive role in accelerating India’s transition towards a net-zero future.
These reflections were shared during an interaction with youth storytellers from the Yuva for Sustainability Internship Programme: Apoorva Mittal, MSc (Botany), University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan; Gaurangii Hari, BA (Economics Honours), Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Lavanya Upadhyay, Master’s in Public Policy, St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Sabyasachi Senapati, MSc (Chemistry), SCS Autonomous College, Puri, Odisha; and Teeshtha Bhawsar, BA (Economics Honours), Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Edited excerpts from the roundtable:
Sabyasachi Senapati: What skill must young entrepreneurs develop today to contribute effectively to India’s clean energy transition and rural development?
Pratyush Thakur: You need to go and understand what the real problems are. Going and understanding the real problems is very, very important and, for that, you have to spend time with the communities. Go to the basics, and you really go to the basics if you are in the communities, if you are talking about real problems. You have to dream big but start small. In terms of the industries or types of opportunities available, grid integration is going to be a huge opportunity on both the hardware and software sides and the business side. I believe working in that area is quite useful.
Teeshtha Bhawsar: How sustainability can evolve into a true mass movement?
Pratyush Thakur: Movements can be run in different manners. There are three categories of people who run movements. The first category is smart and slightly self-centred. These are businesspeople. They are smart, dedicated, and resilient. The second type is those who can impart knowledge and spread knowledge. The third, which in my view is the hardest and the most selfless, and where you have to decide whether you choose that or not, is a social activist. Here, your objective is really just the movement, and the movement you undertake defines your impact by the way you change the lives of people.
Again, it is your choice whether you define the change in life in terms of quality of life or the number of people you impact.
Lavanya Upadhyay: How do you think India is turning its transition into a blueprint for other developing nations? What do you think is India’s role in that transition?
Pratyush Thakur: The things we have done in structuring renewable energy development, in terms of contractual structure, access to market, financing and attracting equity are tremendous. There are a few things that are not even available in developed markets. In terms of the products available on the power markets, we have a spot market that is very active, called the Day-Ahead Market on the Indian Energy Exchange.
We have recently opened derivatives in power, but at the same time, power trading has allowed generators and buyers to structure any kind of contract. The innovation on the contracting side is tremendous, and that is backed by a strong contractual setup established by the central government. There are several such elements. India has also set up the International Solar Alliance, which it leads.
Apoorva Mittal: What sets India apart from other Asian markets in how it operates, and where can it learn from regional models to strengthen its approach?
Pratyush Thakur: Where India is ahead is in a much more developed regulatory framework on the power market side, on how power is generated, sold, distributed and transmitted. The regulatory framework we have developed is very strong. We passed the Electricity Act in 2003, about 22 years ago, and under which power generation was de-licenced. An amendment is coming up, Even today, many Southeast Asian countries do not have this.
We are making progress every year. There is a more forward-leaning and liberal approach towards allowing private sector participation and reducing state participation. Of course, the regulator’s primary job is consumer protection, ensuring sustainable, affordable and reliable power for consumers, while also allowing more efficiency in the market. What we can learn from more developed markets is that regulation needs to be framed in a more liberal way to attract more investments. The second area is technology.
Gaurangii Hari: India is accelerating its renewable energy expansion. What promising but often missed avenues should young professionals pursue?
Pratyush Thakur: Policy is an important part of investments in this sector. We are a regulated sector, so understanding policy and shaping policy is quite important. As I mentioned earlier, you can take any of those paths: get a job, become a teacher, become an adviser, become a social activist, or engage in bidding, depending on your preference. Shaping policy takes a lot of effort, but economics is quite important. Both micro and macro understanding help investment decision-makers guide their strategy, which is crucial. Economics combined with finance and investments is therefore very important.
On the technology side, there are huge opportunities in information technology. This is not overlooked, as it is widely discussed, but it is much harder compared to typical consumer-driven technology because scaling up is easier there.
