Aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, which emphasizes technology, cross-sector collaborations, grassroots awareness and stronger governance, CII is advancing its Mission on Water to strengthen industry’s role in ensuring water security through policy advocacy, capacity building, and recognition of good practices.


The 2030 Water Neutral Industry Group is high level Stakeholder’s forum comprising of user industries across sectors, technology and solutions providers, startups and innovators, and institutions and universities.

Objectives of CII Mission on Water

  • Catalyze Collective Action
  • To bring together a diverse group of water users, stakeholders, thinkers and innovators, who will play a key role in achieving the Mission.
  • Facilitate Water Dialogues
  • To strengthen local institutions of water governance through dialogue mechanisms.
  • Increase awareness
  • Guided by principles of sustainability and ecosystem preservation increase awareness to enable water users act on closing demand-supply gaps using appropriate technology, policy instruments and skills.
  • Promote evidence-based advocacy
  • Facilitate and support light house projects (shining examples) to mobilize and create a larger positive impact through recognition and scale-up.

Focus Areas of the Mission
Missions work is anchored around three focus areas
Policy & Governance
Innovation & Advanced Technologies
Partnerships & Collaborations
Chair
Mr Ravichandran Purushothaman

President
Danfoss Industries Private Limited

Co-Chair
Mr Indraneel Dutt

Managing Director & CEO
Ion Exchange India Limited

Terms of Reference for CII Mission on Water

  • Enable industry to achieve Water Neutrality by 2030.
  • Recognizing industry through Water Neutrality Certification.
  • Promote cross-sectoral collaborations to drive collective action towards Water security.
  • Foster adoption of advanced & scalable technologies to drive Water innovation.
  • To facilitate and support light house projects and create a bigger impact through recognition and scale-up.
  • To have regular interactions with select ministries, think-tanks, regulatory bodies etc.
  • To create awareness on good practices, innovative, scalable technologies.

Achievements 2025-26
1. Policy and Governance
A. Water Neutrality - New Benchmarks for Responsible Business

  • Guided by the principles of sustainability and ecosystem health preservation, the Mission by enabling the creation of Water Neutral Companies under the Water Neutrality Framework of NITI Aayog.
  • Supported transition from plant-centric interventions to holistic, watershed- and supply-chain-based water sustainability strategies.
  • Over 110+ industrial plants certified as Aspiring Water Neutral and 2 plant sites were certified as Water Positive in last 2 years.

B. 2030 Water Neutral Industry Group (2030 WNG)
Catalysed industry-led collective action to promote the adoption of water-neutral practices across sectors

  • Training and Capacity Building on Water Neutrality
  • Conference on Water Neutrality

2. Innovation and Advanced Technology
Through global collaborations, national platforms, international partnerships, thematic Summits & conferences and capacity building initiatives — dialogues, technology exchange, and best practice dissemination were facilitated under the mission.

  • CII Water Tech Summit
  • CII Pulp and Paper Summit - 10th Edition
  • Water Stewardship in Food & Beverage
  • Automotive Water Conference

3. Partnerships and Collaborations

  • Participated in discussions on “Collective Action: How Corporate Water Stewardship Can Benefit Local Communities” at Stockholm World Water Week 2025, themed Water for Climate Action.
  • Represented India in the India–Belgium Collaboration on Water and Waste Management Solutions; explored opportunities for partnership with Belgian companies in India’s growing cleantech and water management ecosystem.
  • In partnership with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and CII–TWI, facilitated interaction between Indian companies and an Australian water-sector delegation in Mumbai and Chennai as part of the India–Australia Water Accelerator Programme, enabling dialogue, towards collaboration, joint pilot models, advanced innovation-driven solutions tailored to India’s water priorities and partnership development.