As global momentum around impact investing continues to accelerate, India stands at a pivotal point in mobilising capital to address urgent development challenges. India’s impact investment landscape experienced a strong resurgence in 2024, as nearly USD 5 billion in equity poured into 438 impact enterprises across key sectors1. This marked a significant recovery from 2023’s slowdown due to broader trends in global venture capital funding. Yet, translating this momentum into sustainable outcomes requires more than capital investment, it demands capability, commitment, and coordination across India’s entire impact ecosystem.
In May 2025, AVPN convened two key engagements in India that are in line with this multidimensional approach: the CFA Sustainability Investing Roundtable in Mumbai and a series of Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) workshops. These efforts aim to build on complementary aspects such as capacity building and strategic cross-sector collaboration that are equally important in building a resilient impact investing landscape in India.
CFA Sustainability Investing Roundtable
Co-hosted with the CFA Institute, AVPN’s impact investing team hosted a roundtable on “The Evolving Role for Investors in Financing India’s Net-Zero Transition” which brought together stakeholders across the entire investment value chain to build shared knowledge on sustainable investing in India. Discussion revolved around current market trends and how sustainable funds in India can balance delivering competitive returns while creating social and environmental impact in the most pressing areas. Insights on how to best align with frameworks such as Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) Business Reporting and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) were also discussed alongside popular investment themes, and approaches to scaling them. The roundtable was an invite-only event that brought together 25 participants, including key players such as SBI Ventures, Maybank, Blackhill, British International Investment (BII), Lok Capital, DSP Mutual Fund, Acumen, Greenstone Capital and AIGCC. The discussions helped underscore an urgency in financing the country’s net-zero transition and emphasise a need for greater partnership to embed sustainability into more investment strategies.
Participant feedback was very positive, demonstrating an understanding of the importance in convening to establish common ground and partnership opportunities.
“The social impact creation by empowering individuals, financial inclusion, enabling demand side solutions and developing literacy for sustainability are quite appealing with the possibility of meeting several UN SDGs”
Jigar Shah, Head Sustainability Research Maybank Investment Banking Group
Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) Workshop
Supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) IMPACT Programme, AVPN and Impact Frontiers conducted specialised Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) workshops to share practical and credible approaches for integrating impact into investments and build capacity for impact reporting. These sessions focused on showcasing Impact Performance reporting Norms and offering practical tools and insights to help impact investors, fund managers, GPs, LPs, PEVCs and and other impact capital managers including Foundations to enhance their impact measurement and management practices. These series of workshops aimed at laying critical groundwork by embedding more transparent, accountable and outcomes-driven IMM practice to make impact reporting more mainstream in India.
AVPN’s engagements in India reflect a commitment in building an enabling environment for capital to flow with intention. As we engage alongside our partners, we aim to foster collaboration, facilitate knowledge exchange and catalyse systemic change through initiatives that continue to lay the foundation for a stronger and more inclusive impact investing ecosystem.
