Developed in partnership with AVPN, the platform enables Asia’s first sub-national climate investment marketplace, with inaugural freight electrification deal announced and catalytic fund in design
New Delhi, India | 25 August 2026 — The Government of Maharashtra, through the Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA), and in partnership with AVPN, Asia’s largest social impact platform, has launched a USD 1 billion investment pipeline under the Maharashtra Climate Investment Programme (MCIP) at the AVPN Global Conference 2026 in New Delhi, India. Enabled by AVPN, this marks the first state-led, investor-facing climate pipeline of its kind in Asia. AVPN served as a strategic partner and as a co-architect helping shape the pipeline design, strengthen project bankability, and activate catalytic partnerships to accelerate deployment.
Integrated into MITRA’s Mahaniti portal, led by the State’s Department of Transport, and enabled by AVPN’s ecosystem, the platform concluded its first live transaction – an agreement between a large chemicals company and Intent to deploy electric trucks along the Jawaharlal Nehru Port corridor, marking the first ever transition by the chemicals industry. The effort sits within the national climate agenda set by the Hon. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, which positions climate action, Lifestyle for Environment and renewable energy as pillars of India’s growth story.The programme has been developed under the guidance of the Hon. Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, who has framed the State’s climate transition as an economic growth strategy under the Viksit Maharashtra Vision 2047.
“Under the guidance of the Hon. Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra is showing that climate action and economic growth move in the same direction. With this pipeline, we are placing real, investment-ready projects before the world, projects that will power our water systems more cleanly, modernise our transport, and strengthen our industry, while creating jobs and opportunity for our people” said Hon. Smt. Meghana Bordikar, Minister of State, Government of Maharashtra.
“What Maharashtra is demonstrating is how quickly ambition can move into action when government priorities, investable opportunities and different forms of capital come together,” said Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO, AVPN. “In just a few months, the Maharashtra Climate Investment Programme has moved from design to a USD 1 billion pipeline and its first transaction. For AVPN, this is exactly the kind of Asia-led model we want to help enable: one where sub-national governments set the priorities, and philanthropic, catalytic and commercial capital can align around them to move solutions towards scale. Unveiling this at our first Global Conference in India makes the moment particularly significant, and we believe Maharashtra can offer a practical blueprint for other states in India and across Asia.”
“The pipeline has been built around Maharashtra’s own priorities and structured to be investable. By bringing these opportunities onto a single platform on the Mahaniti portal, and by consulting the investors and fund managers who would ultimately deploy the capital, we are working towards a permanent investment platform for the State” said Aman Mittal, Joint CEO, MITRA (Maharashtra Institution for Transformation).
Originally launched at Mumbai Climate Week in February 2026 by Shri Praveen Pardeshi, Chief Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister and CEO of MITRA, the pipeline unveiled at the Conference features both bankable and pipeline-stage climate projects aligned with Maharashtra’s development goals. These include:
- State-level electric-bus aggregation
- Zero-emission freight corridors
- Industrial decarbonisation for MSMEs
- Solarisation of rural water and lift irrigation schemes
- A farmer-facing biochar economy
By consolidating these into a single, structured interface on the Mahaniti portal and AVPN’s ecosystem, Maharashtra offers investors unprecedented visibility into where and how private capital can be deployed to accelerate the state’s climate transition.
One of the platform’s first outcomes was the launch of a Government of Maharashtra–AVPN–Intent freight aggregation programme. Focused on the state’s high-utilisation industrial corridors, the initiative targets deployment of 500 electric trucks, aligning with the Maharashtra EV Policy 2025 target of 20% electric heavy goods vehicles by 2030.
To support scale, the State and AVPN are jointly designing a catalytic fund to address residual viability gaps across the freight sector, including issues like residual value, utilisation assurance, and charging infrastructure. This extends the electric bus financing model to freight, combining demand aggregation with blended finance to crowd in private fleet investment. AVPN is leading the fund’s structuring as a capital architect, bridging government policy objectives with private-sector readiness.
Throughout the conference, the Government of Maharashtra is also directly engaging institutional investors, DFIs, asset managers, and philanthropic funders, presenting the pipeline as a unified capital deployment platform. This engagement builds on AVPN’s ecosystem approach, creating a trusted space where governments, philanthropies, and capital providers align around investable climate priorities.
As part of this broader ambition, the State is consulting on a government-anchored climate investment fund, modeled after Singapore’s FAST-P, to enable long-term capital flows into transition projects. This fund is aligned with the Maharashtra Industries, Investment and Services Policy 2025 and will be further shaped by the investor feedback gathered at the AVPN Global Conference.
AVPN’s role extended beyond convening, it structured the platform, activated catalytic financing, and built the connective tissue between policy ambition and investable action. The pipeline and first transaction announced at GC2026 reflect AVPN’s model in action: coordination, platform design, catalytic structuring, and execution at the sub-national level.
About AVPN
AVPN is Asia’s largest platform for social impact, where over 700 resource providers, innovators and intermediaries from across 43 markets collaborate to mobilise capital. Grounded in deep regional expertise and partnerships, AVPN is building a thriving ecosystem that accelerates measurable progress toward inclusive growth, empowering Asia to lead the way in global impact. AVPN’s mission is to translate intent into impact by bringing together people, ideas, and resources for Asia. We do this by strengthening partnerships, fostering open collaboration, and enabling the coordinated flow of resources across markets and borders. Together with our community, AVPN is building a thriving impact ecosystem that drives a prosperous and inclusive Asia.
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The Mavericks India
Priyadarshini Singh
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AVPN
Mehar Kakkar
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