Sustainable Finance Flows to India’s Agriculture Sector

The report establishes a comprehensive framework for tracking sustainable agriculture finance in India, adopting a value-chain approach that covers upstream, farming, and downstream activities. It defines the criteria for 'sustainable agriculture' based on food security, emission reduction, and climate resilience, and details the data sources used—including government budgets, OECD databases, and private equity trackers—to identify public and private disbursements.

• The study employs a value-chain approach to define sustainable agriculture, categorizing activities into upstream (input provision and resource management), farming/agriculture, and downstream (post-harvest management and market linkages).
• Sustainable agriculture is identified based on three primary objectives: food security, emission reduction, and climate resilience.
• The methodology distinguishes between public and private finance sources; public sources include the Indian exchequer (Union and State Government), Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), while private sources include corporate actors, project developers, households, and financial institutions.
• The analysis tracks actual disbursements rather than commitments for the financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22, utilizing a variety of instruments including government budgetary expenditure, subsidies, grants, and both low-cost and market-term loans.
• To prevent double counting in public finance, the study excludes central share/assistance in state budgets and nets out subsidies mentioned in PSU annual financial statements from union budget entries.
• The study excludes several specific sectors and activities from its scope, including food processing, marine fisheries, disaster relief, and livelihood support programs such as MGNREGA.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2025). Sustainable Finance Flows to India’s Agriculture Sector. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Methodology-Sustainable-Agriculture-in-India.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Sustainable Finance Flows to India’s Agriculture Sector. 2025. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Methodology-Sustainable-Agriculture-in-India.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Sustainable Finance Flows to India’s Agriculture Sector |date=January 2025 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Methodology-Sustainable-Agriculture-in-India.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2025sustainable, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Sustainable Finance Flows to India’s Agriculture Sector}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Methodology-Sustainable-Agriculture-in-India.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }