Best of BS Opinion: Climate finance gaps and the strain on federalism

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

India’s climate strategy is confronting hard numbers as new research by Niti Aayog estimates that meeting development goals while moving toward net-zero emissions will require between $14.7 trillion and $22.7 trillion in cumulative investment by 2070, or roughly $500 billion every year. Current climate finance of about $135 billion leaves a gap too large to bridge with domestic resources alone, highlights our first editorial. These findings echo the Economic Survey’s warning that climate finance remains concentrated in a few mature sectors and largely within India. The report proposes blended finance, deeper green bond markets and a national institution to reduce risks and borrowing costs. 

Meanwhile, urban mobility is entering another experiment with the arrival of Bharat Taxi, a driver-owned cooperative that promises zero commissions and surge-free fares. The model challenges the discount-driven dominance of Ola and Uber, which has produced years of tension between cheap rides and driver earnings, notes our second editorial. Earlier shifts, such as Rapido’s subscription pricing and the Namma Yatri platform, showed that alternatives can influence behaviour, yet sustainability remains uncertain. The Competition Commission of India will have to ensure that different models compete on equal terms. 

M Govinda Rao reviews the Sixteenth Finance Commission and argues that its attempt to balance efficiency and equity leans too far toward the former. Retaining a 41 per cent devolution share preserved stability, but new weights for GDP contribution and population, along with the end of revenue deficit grants, may hurt poorer states which are already constrained by borrowing limits. He questions the reliance on Centrally Sponsored Schemes funded by cesses that shrink the divisible pool and lack clear service benchmarks, concluding that federal transfers still do not correct deep regional inequality. 

Writing about India’s recent major trade agreements, Kanika Datta writes that these trade deals have generated optimism that may be misplaced. India’s global goods trade share remains only 1.8 per cent after years of weak performance, and lower tariffs will not offset low productivity, skill shortages and heavy compliance burdens. She notes that India has slipped in business-complexity and FDI-confidence rankings, with new investment flowing mainly into services rather than manufacturing. Trade deals with the US and EU offer opportunity, she argues, but only deeper reforms in education, health and regulatory design can convert them into jobs. 

Finally, Sneha Pathak reviews Tejaswini Apte-Rahm’s Tatyasaheb, a book that recounts the life of Vaman Shridhar Apte, a Bombay entrepreneur who built businesses in textiles, silent films and sugar during a period of rapid urban change. The book follows Shridhar Apte’s arrival in the city’s 1890s boom, his partnership with Dadasaheb Phalke, and the mix of success and failure that marked his ventures in oil and paper. Drawing on family archives, photographs and detailed appendices, the narrative reconstructs the commercial networks and social customs of the time while keeping political events in the background. 

Stay tuned!