Circular Business Growth Models Could Spell Gains of up to $697-bn in India

NITI Aayog CEO, Mr. Amitabh Kant, has underlined the need to embed the principles of circular economy in India’s school education system. This process will equip young learners with the right mindset and enable them to become active shapers of a movement that will secure the future with finite resources.

Speaking at FICCI’s Circular Economy Symposium-2018, Mr. Kant said India needs to grow at about 10% annually for the next three decades to be able to meet the ever-rising demand of its burgeoning population. This order of growth is not achievable if the business-as-usual approach to the use of scarce resources is not abandoned. The need of the hour is to bring about a change in mindset and give free play to innovation to cash in on the vast business opportunities that lie ahead, he said.

He said that in order to reduce the dependence of fossil fuels in transportation, NITI Aayog analysis suggests that the way forward is the use of bio-fuels. “We are giving a big push to electric vehicles in a bid to conserve exhaustible natural resources and bring about resource efficiency,” he said. On the occasion, Mr. Kant released the FICCI-Accenture Theme Paper on ‘Accelerating India’s Circular Economy Shift: Future proofing growth in a resource scarce world.’

‘Monetise collection of waste materials’

Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), underlined the need to monetise the collection of waste materials, certify it before it goes into recycling and ensure that different parties in the value chain interact with one another to put the recycled material to the best possible use.

Mr. Vijay Kalra, CEO, Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers Ltd., spelt out Mahindra’s sustainability framework, which aims at keeping products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times.

Mr. Vipul Shah, Chief Operating Officer, Petrochemicals, Reliance Industries Ltd., pointed out that in a consumption-led society, the end user and the intermediary businesses will drive the circular economy. The need of the hour was to re-imagine our economies as circular as opposed to linear and develop a construct that keeps resources for as long as possible and re-use products after their use.

Mr. Anirban Ghosh, Chair of the symposium and Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra and Dr. Ashok Menon, Global Technology Leader, Sustainability Analytics & Operations, Corporate Sustainability Division, SABIC Technology Centre, also shared their perspectives on the subject.