State of Play of Drives for Implementing Sustainable Procurement in India

Abstract

AbstractThe rapidly growing interest in sustainable procurement among practitioners is echoed by an equivalent growing attention among policymakers to use procurement power strategically. The chapter draws from earlier studies on barriers and drivers for effectively implementing sustainable procurement practices in different parts of the world and evaluates the degree to which these drivers are present in the Indian context. The threadbare analysis of the status of drivers at the Country, Organizational, and Market levels provides insights on areas that require additional works and revamping and also how to sequence the measures and prioritize resources for mainstreaming sustainable procurement. It found that interdependence and interactions of different drivers shape and strengthen the overall ecosystem in a country under which an organization is more likely to engage and prioritize sustainable procurement practices. The evidence supports the view that it is often a combination of barriers that hinders sustainable procurement implementation.For the first time, the study throws light on the previous attempts of the Govt. of India to develop sustainable procurement policy and guidelines at the national level. On the one hand, these initiatives reflect some level of commitment to mainstream sustainability in purchasing decisions, and on the other hand, their failure suggests there is still much that needs to be done. The chapter has brought out several examples of the strategic use of public procurement for achieving horizontal objectives despite policy uncertainties. These bottom-up approaches have the potential to emerge as a full-fledged independent decentralized SPP program and help build momentum to demonstrate the benefits of using “power of procurement” strategically.The chapter contributes to the diffusion of research on challenges in policy formulation and implementation by studying sustainable procurement policy and practices in India. The findings validate the importance of the uninterrupted backing of political leadership in steering changes for driving sustainable procurement policy and the critical role of other factors beyond policy framework in translating sustainable procurement policy into actual practice.KeywordsKey drivers for implementing sustainable public procurement in IndiaPrioritization of product criteriaInitiatives for implementing sustainable procurement in IndiaSustainable procurement in Indian RailwaysSustainable procurement in India