Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, has advocated for treating water as an economic asset requiring effective pricing mechanisms. According to his post on X, India's four biggest growth bets - food processing, pharmaceuticals, nuclear energy and data centres - are highly water-intensive industries increasingly being built in states already facing water stress. As reported by NDTV Profit, Kamath argues that the country's failure to adequately price and meter water has created a growing imbalance between demand and supply.
The post highlights successful water management strategies from international examples. Israel charges consumers close to the full cost of water supply and has achieved one of the world's highest water-recycling rates, with around 90% of wastewater being reused. Singapore, despite lacking natural freshwater resources, has built a self-reliant system through extensive recycling and desalination, with recycled water accounting for about 40% of the country's needs and desalination contributing another 25%. According to the analysis, while crude oil futures began trading in 1983 and carbon credit markets emerged in 2005, the world's first major water futures contract was introduced only in 2020 by the CME Group.
The chart points to specific obstacles facing water market development across Asia. As reported by NDTV Profit, water remains a politically sensitive issue and supply challenges are highly localised, unlike oil which can be traded globally. Chile's experience offers a different model, having privatised water rights in 1981, allowing select private entities to own and trade them, though this generated criticism over hoarding and unequal access. The analysis notes that water availability varies significantly from one region to another, making the creation of a unified market difficult.
Despite challenges, signs of change are emerging in India's water sector. According to NDTV Profit, pilot programmes in China involve water-rights trading across river basins, while the World Bank has supported water-accounting frameworks in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Kamath believes India is approaching an inflection point, with water-intensive industries expanding rapidly and urban centres already grappling with periodic shortages. He argues that metering, pricing and efficient allocation of water will become increasingly important, stating that 'the resource isn't priced. The metering is just starting.'
The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti is implementing the State Water Reform Framework (SWRF) to assess states' water sector reforms. Goa is currently being evaluated under this framework, which covers 27 sub-dimensions and 75 indicators with a composite score of 100 points across five broad dimensions: policy and regulation, project monitoring, digitalisation and research and development, infrastructure, and information, education and community engagement. The assessment covers areas including groundwater regulation, flood management, treated water reuse, rainwater harvesting, and digital initiatives like State Water Informatics Centres. As reported by The Times of India, the framework aims to encourage states towards adoption of key water sector reforms through transparent benchmarking across states.
