Green Developmentalism? The Political Economy of Hydropower in India in the 21st Century

ABSTRACT This article critically examines the political economy of hydropower in India since its global reconfiguration as ‘green energy’ in the early 2000s. While an opportune convergence of interests among key global, national and subnational stakeholders contributed to the greening of hydropower in India, this reframing did not produce the expected flows of private capital into the development of hydropower projects. Yet the state persists in its support of hydropower, citing its importance for grid stabilization and national security. To understand why the Indian state frames hydropower as green energy and continues to pursue it despite challenges in attracting private investment, the article posits that this greening experiment must be situated within a longer continuum of state policy on hydropower. It argues that the greening of hydropower in India is driven less by global finance and more by the country's domestic political economy. In particular, the Indian state has adopted political and financial derisking techniques that include diluting environmental regulation, easing access to credit and placing stalling projects under public control when private capital flees. The article concludes that the Indian case of greening hydropower represents a distinctive form of green developmentalism through which the state pursues its long‐term agendas, protects powerful interests and leaves the hegemony of coal intact.