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India Needs a Green Materials Economy Beyond Renewable Energy, Says IIT Madras Professor
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Moneycontrol•12-10-2026, 21:32
India Needs a Green Materials Economy Beyond Renewable Energy, Says IIT Madras Professor
- •Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras emphasized that India must develop alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials like plastics to reduce import dependence and build a true green economy.
- •Developing bio-based materials from agricultural waste and lignin can create new industries, generate regional employment, and foster domestic technological capabilities.
- •While India has advanced in solar and wind power, transport and heavy manufacturing still heavily rely on fossil fuels, making material transition essential.
- •Green materials must achieve commercial viability to compete with established fossil products, moving beyond viewing alternative plastics solely as waste management solutions.
- •Startups can play a crucial role by taking technological risks and experimenting with unproven solutions before larger corporations scale them up.
Key Questions Answered
Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala advocates that India must look beyond renewable electricity and develop biological alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials like plastics to build a complete green economy and reduce imported technology dependence.
Agricultural residues, lignin from plant biomass, and resources like sugarcane can be utilized as feedstocks to produce alternatives such as polylactic acid (PLA) and other bio-based products.
Since established Indian companies tend to be risk-averse toward unproven technologies, startups can take technology risks by experimenting with new solutions that larger corporations can later scale and adopt.
