Mumbai: The Green Indian Financial System (GIFS) Initiative convened its 2026 Annual Summit, Parivartan: Finance for Green Transition, bringing together policymakers, financial institutions, development institutions, industry representatives, and entrepreneurs to advance practical approaches for scaling inclusive and gender-responsive green and climate finance for India’s MSMEs and last-mile communities.

Across two days of strategic discussions, panels, and application-oriented workshops, participants highlighted that scaling green finance is not only about mobilizing more capital, but also about better structuring and deploying the capital already available in the ecosystem. While financial institutions are increasingly greening their portfolios, stakeholders need to make more progress on the instruments, data, taxonomies, institutional capacity, and delivery mechanisms that enable effective channeling of finance to MSMEs.

Three key themes emerged from the Summit:

Capital Mobilization: Discussions highlighted the need for financing structures that better reflect MSME realities and address risks associated with smaller ticket sizes. Participants emphasized sector- and value-chain-specific approaches, stronger lender capacity, and better utilization of existing financing schemes and capital.

Adaptation Finance: The Summit underscored the need to help financial institutions and MSMEs better understand, identify, and respond to physical climate risks. Participants explored emerging opportunities including parametric insurance and nature-based solutions, alongside the need for practical examples and capacity building to translate adaptation needs into financeable opportunities.

Gender-Responsive Finance: Discussions examined gender inclusion through women’s leadership in green finance, women-led green enterprises, and women at the last mile who are particularly vulnerable to climate impacts. Participants emphasized the need to move from individual success stories towards institutional approaches, including sustained mentorship, stronger networks, capacity building, and gender-responsive financial design.

A central message from Parivartan 2026 was the need to build on solutions that are already demonstrating potential—transforming one-off initiatives into durable infrastructure, standalone products into connected systems, and individual champions into institutional practice.