India’s Looming Climate Crisis: Can ULB-Startup Partnerships Save the Day?
India’s urban centres are on the frontlines of a brewing climate crisis, with water scarcity emerging as a critical threat. Bengaluru’s recent water woes forced residents to seek relief in public restrooms. Chennai faces a paradox of droughts and floods, and Delhi experienced its longest recorded heatwave in May 2024, worsening its already stressed water resources.
The urgency for innovation
These challenges stem from various factors including outdated infrastructure, inadequate governance and rapid urbanization. The situation is further compounded as only 28% of India’s wastewater is treated, leaving a significant portion to contaminate freshwater sources, posing health risks.
The need for change is undeniable. Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) like Municipality, Industrial Development Agencies and Smart City Missions need to adopt and drive novel, sustainable water management practices.
At Villgro, we believe that innovative solutions are the only way to solve these systemic problems. India’s booming startup ecosystem, the world’s third largest, has several companies with promising innovative ideas and cutting-edge technologies that can revolutionize water management.
Despite this, roadblocks exist!
Role of an Incubator
To overcome these challenges, an experienced enabler needs to connect ULBs with curated startups and identify the ideal ways to embed innovation in existing processes or create new processes to solve existing problems.
At Villgro, we play this role by working closely with ULBs to understand their requirements, incubate startups with relevant solutions and subsequently help them scale by facilitating deployment through market / institutional access and innovative financing.
For example, ULBs are struggling with waste segregation and lack a robust system for collecting user fees for waste management. To address this, we connected them with Bintix, a startup that uses an IoT-based platform to track waste from its source to the endpoint and incentivizes households to segregate waste at the source.
We also helped another startup, Jalsevak, collaborate with municipalities to implement sustainable greywater recycling practices and promote water conservation. Jalodbust offers a unique solution that eliminates the need for manual intervention in sewage cleaning, making the process safer and more efficient. Villgro facilitated a connection between Jalodbust and ULBs, supporting them in conducting pilot projects together.
How can we make an impact?
From our experience, we’ve identified key levers that can accelerate the adoption of these innovative solutions, driving meaningful change across the urban landscape.
1. Establish a Central ULB Innovation Fund
We need a central ULB Innovation Fund that fosters ownership and scalability in pilot projects. This fund will allow ULBs to finance innovative sustainable projects with control over the project’s implementation.
2. Leverage Diverse Financial Instruments
ULBs should leverage various financial instruments to ensure a continuous funding stream for their water management initiatives. Allocating a dedicated portion of the annual ULB budget for high-risk, high-return projects is essential to change the status quo. CSR can play a significant role by providing funds for research and innovation. Alternative financing options like Carbon Credits, for projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Blended Finance, combining public and private capital, can also support innovative projects with longer payback periods.
3. Institutionalize Innovation within ULBs
Institutionalizing innovation within ULBs will help create sustainable impact. This can be achieved by creating positions like Innovation Officer or awarding prizes for innovations, similar to Swachh Survekshan.
4. Revise Procurement Policies
Revising procurement policies to engage startups with disruptive solutions is crucial. This can be done by introducing flexibility in qualification criteria or encouraging consortia between startups and established companies, bringing a more risk-tolerant approach for solutions that address systemic problems.
5. Access to Dedicated Sectoral Knowledge and Technical Support
Access to dedicated sectoral knowledge and technical support from incubators, NGOs, policy think tanks, and R&D institutes can play a crucial role in successful ULB-startup partnerships. Experts can assist in project design, risk management, technology evaluation, and impact monitoring.
Villgro facilitated a showcase of waste-to-value startups at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) CITIIS 2.0 workshop. This was attended by 100 Smart City officials and conducted a session for six startups, which led to interest and proposals from various ULBs.
Saltech, one of our incubatees, has been considered for Panjim and Srinagar’s CITIIS 2.0 project, demonstrating successful startup-ULB collaboration.
Villgro at the CITIIS 2.0
A Beacon of Hope: Leading by Example
India’s cities are leading the way towards a sustainable future through innovative initiatives. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) made history with Asia’s first certified green municipal bond, funding wastewater management infrastructure. This move highlights a growing trend among Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to adopt green financing for water challenges.
ULBs like the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) also foster innovation by easing entry barriers for waste management startups. This encourages a dynamic ecosystem with practical solutions.
These efforts yield results!
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh are revolutionizing sewage cleaning with Genrobotics’ Bandicoot robots, which enhance sanitation safety and efficiency. Other startups like WeVOIS Labs, Jalsevak, and De’Dzines are tackling waste management with IoT-based monitoring, sustainable water recycling, and upcycling scrap tyres into park furniture, respectively.
Innovative partnerships are the way to navigate the looming water crisis and build climate-resilient cities.
