Bengaluru,8 December 2025 : At the Global Energy Leaders’ Summit in Puri today, Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), underscored IREDA’s pivotal role in supporting Odisha’s clean-energy transition and advancing India’s sustainability agenda.
Speaking at the panel on “Green and Clean: Balancing Ecology & Economy,” CMD, IREDA emphasized that, from India’s perspective of RE development, decarbonisation and the energy transition, responsibility cannot rest only with leaders of the country or corporate leadership. Leaders at every level- States, districts, panchayats, villages, and even within families must collectively shoulder the responsibility of achieving net zero. He stressed that this can be realised only through a holistic approach that enables a robust ecosystem supporting both renewable-energy development and ecological balance.
He highlighted that IREDA, India’s largest pure-play green lender, has sanctioned over ₹2.7 lakh crore and disbursed more than ₹1.7 lakh crore nationwide, supported by robust governance, digital paperless processes, and industry- leading asset-quality. This performance, he noted, continues to attract substantial interest from global and domestic climate-finance investors.
Emphasising the growing importance of circular-economy practices, carbon markets, biodiversity offsets, and climate finance, Shri Das said these tools are now essential for achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Odisha, a major steel and aluminium producer, is well positioned to adopt circular manufacturing, including metals recycling and green hydrogen integration, enabling the production of premium green steel for export and boosting state GDP.
He also highlighted the potential of a Green Hydrogen Highway across Odisha, supported by more than 7 MTPA of announced green ammonia capacity and several industrial clusters. Co-locating hydrogen production with steel, aluminium, cement, and chemical units, he said, could unlock significant industrial efficiency and competitiveness.
On carbon markets, he noted that Odisha’s extensive forests and India’s largest mangrove ecosystem provide unique opportunities for climate-finance mobilisation through advanced Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) and digital carbon registries.
Reaffirming IREDA’s commitment, Shri Das said the agency has already disbursed over ₹2,400 crore in Odisha, with a loan book of about ₹1,800 crore across Hydro, Solar, Ethanol, and Manufacturing. He added that IREDA stands ready to finance shared hydrogen infrastructure, plug-and-play RE parks, distributed solar, and foreign-currency loans through its GIFT City subsidiary.
“Circularity, climate finance, and nature-positive development must move together, IREDA stands ready to partner with Odisha to deliver sustainable, community-centred growth for the future,” he said.
The event was graced by the Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, and Shri Vishal Kumar Dev, Principal Secretary (Energy), Government of Odisha, along with senior officials from various states, developers, academia, researchers, and other dignitaries.
Along with Shri Das, the panel discussion featured Ms. Lena Backer, Former Enforcement Director, Government of Sweden and Chairperson for Life, The Royal Foundation for Peace Global Fund; Prof. Madhavi Srinivasan, Executive Director, Energy Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and moderated by Dr. Dhruba Purkayastha, Advisor (Climate and Energy), Observer Research Foundation.
Organised by the Government of Odisha in association with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and IIT Kanpur, the summit was held from 5–7 December.
