India: country profile

01Overview

India enters 2027 with a population of 1,463.9 million, a power fleet that is now more than half non-fossil by capacity, and a water and food system that rests on one seasonal rainfall regime. The population figure is for 2025 [1]. Installed non-fossil capacity was 300.50 GW of about 552 GW on 31 July 2026 [9] [10], yet fossil fuels still supplied about 73% of electricity generation [12]. The 2026 southwest monsoon delivered 87% of the long period average, and East and Northeast India recorded its lowest season in the record since 1901 [16]. Groundwater extraction stood at 60.63% of the extractable resource in 2025, with 730 of 6,762 assessment units over-exploited [18], while the Ministry of Agriculture estimates a record 376.563 million tonnes of foodgrain for 2025–26 [19]. The weather service counted about 2,760 deaths from extreme weather in 2025, more than 1,370 of them from heavy rain, floods, cloudbursts and landslides [14]. This Baseline Edition fixes the reference state for India’s water, energy, food, health and biodiversity systems, maps the couplings through which monsoon, heat and supply shocks travel, and sets the questions the first operational edition will answer with Foundry evidence in Q1 2027. Where a figure could not be bound to a published source, the page says so. It ranks nothing and decides nothing.

02At a glance

population, 2025

1,463.9 million

urban population share, 2025

35.7 %

gross domestic product, current prices, 2025

3,956 USD billion

life expectancy at birth, 2024

72.2 years

CO₂ emissions excluding land use, 2024

3,154 Mt

non-fossil installed capacity, 31 July 2026

300.50 GW

03Key findings

04Domain reading

Each of the twelve coupled domains is read in words, not scored. The coupling column names the dependency that carries risk into other systems.

05Sector screen

All sixteen sectors are screened on the same grammar, so that later editions can say what changed. The evidence column describes coverage of the baseline evidence, not the performance of the sector.

06System couplings

The India matrix types the twenty couplings between the five core systems. Strengths are Nexus estimates from the cited evidence and analogue events; they set the starting graph that the Q1 2027 Foundry cut will test.

07Risk objects

Four risk objects open the portfolio. Order carries no rank. Each is read across driver, exposure, vulnerability, capacity, cascade and consequence.

• Multi-year monsoon deficit with groundwater stress

  Reported EQL 4

  Driver

  deficient monsoon seasons and rising temperature

  Exposure

  irrigated and rain-fed farmland, cities, hydropower

  Vulnerability

  groundwater extraction above 100% in three states

  Capacity

  storage and demand management not bound

  Cascade

  CLI → WAT → FOO, ENE

  Horizon

  annual to 5 years

• Cloudburst, flood and landslide sequence in the mountains and plains

  Reported EQL 4

  Driver

  extreme rain on steep or flood-prone terrain

  Exposure

  mountain valleys, river plains and coasts

  Vulnerability

  roads, power lines and settlements in hazard zones; not bound

  Capacity

  warnings and response agencies; effectiveness not bound

  Cascade

  CLI → INF → HLT, ENE

  Horizon

  annual

• Power-system balancing as solar share grows

  Reported EQL 3

  Driver

  evening demand after solar output falls

  Exposure

  households, industry and agriculture

  Vulnerability

  fossil generation still about 73% of supply

  Capacity

  storage and flexible capacity not bound

  Cascade

  ENE → WAT, FOO, FIN

  Horizon

  1–5 years

• Extreme heat and humidity

  Expert input EQL 2

  Driver

  heat waves and warm nights

  Exposure

  outdoor workers, older people, dense housing

  Vulnerability

  cooling access and housing; not bound

  Capacity

  heat action plans exist as guidance [43]; use not bound

  Cascade

  CLI → HLT → ENE

  Horizon

  seasonal

08Capability ladder

Existence is not readiness. Each of the fifteen capability functions is placed on the ladder by the strongest public evidence at baseline.

09Scenario

A second deficient monsoon across groundwater, kharif output, power demand and food budgets. A conditional statement under stated assumptions, never a prediction.

10Lenses

The baseline is read through each steward’s lens, then once as a whole. Each lens is a projection of reviewed findings, not a separate argument.

• Technical Truth

  GCRI · KEY T

  The evidence supports a coupled reading of India’s risk: the monsoon sets water and food outcomes, extremes cause large and rising loss of life, and the power system is changing faster than its fuel mix. Evidence is strongest for climate, capacity and crop estimates, and weakest for heat deaths, insured losses and lifeline continuity.

• Public Meaning

  GRF · KEY M

  For most people risk arrives as a late monsoon, a flood, a heat wave or a price rise. The baseline asks that public debate weigh how a deficient season reaches household budgets, and how losses from floods and heat are shared between households, insurers and the state.

• Capital Meaning

  GRA · KEY F

  Readiness implications only. Insured and uninsured losses are not bound, and groundwater extraction exceeds 100% in three states [18]. These show where finance-readiness evidence will matter. Nothing here is advice, a rating or an endorsement.

• Synthesis

  NEXUS

  India is building clean power at record speed, yet water, food and health still depend on rainfall. The 2027 programme should test the deficient-monsoon pathway, map lifeline dependencies for one mountain valley, and bind a heat-death series.

11Portfolio

Five initiatives and one Universe mission candidate are proposed for admission at the Q1 2027 alignment. They are programme objects, no partner, funder or member is attached to them in this edition.

122027 agenda

Eight bounded questions open the 2027 National Agenda. Each comes from a baseline finding, names the initiative that will carry it and the first output due at the Q1 2027 cut.

1. A-01

   How would a second deficient monsoon change groundwater stress and kharif output in the north-west plains?

   INI-IND-WAT-01 · monsoon deficit and groundwater

2. A-02

   How far can evening-peak balancing and fossil generation be reduced as solar grows?

   INI-IND-ENE-02 · power-system balancing

3. A-03

   How do public grain stocks and export policy buffer a short harvest?

   INI-IND-FOO-03 · food buffers

4. A-04

   How would a Himalayan cloudburst and flood sequence cut roads, power and care together?

   INI-IND-CLI-04 · mountain flood continuity

5. A-05

   Where do flood, lightning and heat losses fall on households and on public budgets?

   INI-IND-FIN-05 · protection gap

6. A-06

   How do heat and humidity load health and care in summer?

   to be admitted when heat-health data are bound

7. A-07

   How do land-use change and fire affect ecosystems outside protected areas?

   to be admitted in Q1 2027

8. A-08

   Which capabilities have been tested in real disasters, and which are only planned?

   national capability register

13Coupled risk, applied response

14Evidence by system

15Sources

52 numbered sources, editor first. Open the reference list and the data appendix.

16Cite, corrections and licence

The full citation, BibTeX and RIS are on the edition page. Corrections go through the gateway and are logged in Annex C. Text is CC BY 4.0.

Cite

Saeed Valadbaygi, Chief Steward and Managing Editor, the Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) (Ed.). (2026). India: country profile. In India 2026 [Draft under review]. GCRI for the Nexus Consortium.

Review copy. The DOI is issued at deposit. Text under CC BY 4.0.