Building a competitive innovation economy requires differentiated, long-term capital to bridge India’s credit gap: SIDBI MD Manoj Mittal

NEW DELHI: At IVCA GreenReturns Summit 2025, Manoj‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), joined a fireside chat where he spoke about the role of innovation in deeptech, ESG, and early-stage investing. The discussion featured perspectives on the ways India can harness the investing ecosystem to scale innovation-led startups and integrate sustainability, climate action, and deep science into business‌ ‌‍‌‍‍‌‍models.

During the conversation, Mittal highlighted the increasing relevance of deeptech, ESG-aligned companies, and climate-focused startups as India enters its next phase of economic and industrial transformation. He noted that supporting these innovation-led enterprises will require long-term capital, collaborative industry frameworks, and strong institutional backing to enable both development and scale.

He also noted that the evolving policy environment, growing investor participation, and strengthening domestic capital pool will provide momentum for founders building in deeptech, climate-tech, ESG, and R&D-led sectors.


The discussion also explored the opportunities for blended finance models, ESG-linked investing frameworks, capital requirements for hardware-led innovation, enabling regulatory pathways for deeptech, and the role of institutional capital in early-stage markets. There was particular focus on growing alignment between India’s sustainability goals, industrial priorities, and investor interest.

This session was among the key highlights of IVCA GreenReturns Summit 2025, which brought together policymakers, global institutions, investors, and innovators to discuss India’s $10 trillion climate investment opportunity and the roadmap to strengthen climate-aligned, innovation-driven capital flows.