The wind sector led the way, attracting USD4.6 billion out of a total USD10.2 billion investment in India and spurring deployment of 2.8GW during the year, a 38 percent increase in wind-generating capacity, according to research released on April 11 by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
"On a number of measures, India has been one of the top performing clean energy economies in the 21st century, registering the fifth highest five-year rate of investment growth and eighth highest in installed renewable energy capacity," said Phyllis Cuttino, Director of Pew's Clean Energy Programme.
"The country holds great potential in the Asia/Oceania region, and will continue to be a top destination for private investment this year," she said.
India's 'National Solar Mission', with a goal of 20GW of solar power installed by 2020, helped drive the seven-fold jump in solar energy investments to USD4.2 billion.
Globally, investment grew to a record USD263 billion in 2011, a 6.5 percent increase over the previous year. The United States reclaimed the top spot among all G-20 nations and attracted USD48 billion in investment.
However, with USD45.5 billion in private investments, China continued to be a hub of clean energy activity - leading the world in wind energy investment and deployment as well as wind and solar manufacturing. Germany received USD30.6 billion, ranking third among G-20 nations.
The combination of falling prices and growing investments accelerated installation of clean energy generating capacity by a record 83.5GW in 2011, bringing the total to 565GW globally.
This represents almost 50 percent more than installed nuclear power capacity. Investments in the G-20 countries accounted for more than 95 percent of the global total.