India, Sept. 4 -- India's decision to expand nuclear power capacity from around 8 GW to 100 GW by 2047 represents one of the most ambitious infrastructure programmes in the country's history. Achieving this target is expected to require investments of approximately Rs.20-22 lakh crore over the next two decades. While much of the policy debate has centred on liability laws, reactor technologies and private-sector participation, India's nuclear ambitions will ultimately depend on whether it can build a financing architecture capable of mobilising capital at unprecedented scale and for sufficiently long durations.

The problem is not simply that nuclear power is presently expensive. It is that the financial ecosystem required to support such...