The purpose of the present study is to conduct a bibliometric and thematic analysis and map the intellectual structure of Indian Green Finance (GF) literature and delineate the major contributors in the domain of GF within the Indian context.
A total of 224 articles were extracted from the Scopus database to conduct the bibliometric study. The SPAR-4-SLR protocol was employed for the systematic and objective selection of GF articles. This study employed both bibliometric analyses, i.e. performance analysis and science mapping techniques, to reveal the major contributors, relevant themes, latest trends and development within the domain.
The findings elucidate the publication trends, article performance, authors’ performance and leading journals that contributed significantly to the Indian GF literature. The intellectual structure was framed to identify research themes and trends by running various bibliometric analyses.
The article enhances the understanding of the research discipline by mapping its thematic structure and tracing its intellectual evolution over time through co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analyses. This study captures the attention of scholars by documenting substantial output of academic publications on GF within the Indian context. The findings guide policymakers and practitioners regarding GF market development.
Although GF is an established academic field, empirical research in the Indian context is still scarce. This study adds by delineating its thematic evolution and identifying research gaps for subsequent empirical investigation. This study presents a thorough bibliometric analysis to map the Indian GF literature. Furthermore, the multiple analytical techniques employed in this study enhance its significance.
1. Introduction
The escalating urgency of climate change, environmental deterioration and resource depletion has triggered a worldwide transition toward sustainable development. This transformation demands comprehensive changes in energy, infrastructure and finance, generally termed sustainability transitions (Markard, Raven, & Truffer, 2012). In this context, green finance (GF) has become an essential facilitator, channeling capital into ecologically friendly initiatives and low-carbon development (OECD, 2017; Bhardwaj, 2013). GF refers to financial investments that support environmentally friendly projects, such as clean energy and sustainable infrastructure, while providing returns to investors (Ozili, 2022). Rooted in ecological modernization theory, it signifies a strategic approach to reconciling economic advancement with enduring environmental sustainability (Mol & Spaargaren, 2000).
In recent years, GF has gained prominence as a crucial mechanism for aligning financial requirements with environmental sustainability and low-carbon economic growth (Flammer, 2021; Jangid et al., 2024a, b; Jangid & Bhardwaj, 2024). This financial paradigm incorporates activities that aid climate action by investing in sustainable infrastructure (Jangid et al., 2024b), clean energy and eco-friendly businesses (Soundarrajan & Vivek, 2016). As India experiences escalating climate-related difficulties and attempts to fulfil its commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), GF has become essential in guiding its developmental and environmental priorities. Following the Paris Agreement in 2015, the term GF began to be recognized by policymakers and researchers. Since the introduction of COVID-19 in 2020, a notable expansion in the GF literature has been observed. During the Covid-19 pandemic, stock, bond and various asset classes had a significant decline in prices, except for certain GF instruments, such as green bonds, which demonstrated their hedging and diversification capabilities even during the crisis (Adekoya, Oliyide, Asl, & Jalalifar, 2021). Naeem, Mbarki, Alharthi, Omri, and Shahzad (2021) underscore the significance of GB as a financially stable instrument, especially during periods of crisis.
Although the corpus of GF literature in India has grown considerably. Existing research remains markedly fragmented across a spectrum of subdomains. The development of key subfields spanning green bond pricing, sustainable fintech initiatives, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework implementation and policy-related assessments often progresses independently, lacking meaningful convergence or interdisciplinary collaborations. This divergence across subfields restricts the formation of a cohesive knowledge base and challenges the identification of structured academic progressions. Hence, there is an urgent need for a systematic review and bibliometric study that can fully chart the intellectual contours of this discipline. Bibliometric analysis is particularly useful at this stage in India’s GF development, as it methodically delineates the field’s knowledge foundation, identifies seminal works and nascent topics, and underscores gaps for future study. Considering the sector's rapid growth and evolving policy landscape, such mapping provides timely insights to guide scholarship and inform evidence-based policymaking.
Existing review papers on GF synthesize and demonstrate the various crucial aspects of GF, such as MacAskill, Roca, Liu, Stewart, and Sahin (2021) conducted an SLR on greenium existence in GB, whereas Bhutta, Tariq, Farrukh, Raza, and Iqbal (2022), and Cortellini and Panetta (2021) demonstrate the various dimensions of GB literature in their reviews. A few bibliometric studies were also conducted in the domain of GF (Maria, Ballini, & Souza, 2023; Palmaccio, Galeone, Shini, & Campobasso, 2023; Bhatnagar & Sharma, 2022; Abhilash, Shenoy, & Shetty, 2022; Zhang, Zhang, & Managi, 2019), demonstrating evolution, enablers, major themes and future directions of the GF domain, whereas Benameur, Hassanein, Mostafa, Elmaghrabi, and Tharwat (2025) conducted a bibliometric study on sustainable finance. Another systematic review conducted by Mustaffa, Ahmad, and Bahrudin (2021) on the barriers that occur in the path of smooth green financing. Lastly, Shabana, Jemimah, and Joseph (2024) conducted an SLR to synthesize the previous systematic reviews.
Numerous review papers have been written in the domain of GF. Unlike global-level studies that aggregate diverse contexts (Zhang et al., 2019; Maria et al., 2023; Palmaccio et al., 2023), the current study captures India-specific thematic priorities shaped by different regulatory frameworks, such as Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) for the top 1,000 listed companies and issuance of Sovereign Green Bond (SGB) under the Government of India (GOI) framework or the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) guideline for corporate green bond issuance. Methodologically, previous studies frequently depend on either narrative synthesis or unidimensional bibliometric indicators, overlooking the potential to integrate performance analysis with science mapping approaches like co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analysis. Additionally, they failed to map the literature landscape of an emerging context like India. The current study primarily maps the thematic landscape of GF literature in India. This study delineates publishing trends, significant contributors and theme frameworks in Indian GF literature to elucidate its evolution, present condition and prospective trajectories, thereby establishing a cohesive knowledge foundation to guide future research and policy. By integrating these elements, this study advances the existing literature methodologically, conceptually and in terms of context-specific insights.
To map the intellectual structure of Indian GF literature, the study is based on bibliometric analysis employing a performance analysis and science mapping technique. Traditional narrative reviews offer significant insights. However, they lack systematic study selection, methodological rigor and objective evaluations of extensive empirical literature datasets, resulting in potential biases and inadequate conclusions. The study answers the following research questions (RQs) by employing bibliometric and science mapping.
How has GF literature evolved in the Indian context?
What is the current intellectual structure of Indian GF research in terms of influential publications, authors and journals?
Which are the widely explored themes highlighting the foundation and knowledge production of GF research?
What are the future research directions in GF?
This research provides scholars, practitioners and policymakers with a comprehensive framework to navigate the extensive and dynamic landscape of GB literature by addressing the deficiencies in previous studies.
Following the introduction, the methodology is described in section 2, the bibliometric insights of Indian GF literature are presented in section 3, the knowledge clusters are illustrated in section 4, the discussion portion is covered in section 5, and the study’s conclusion is highlighted in section 6.
2. Data and methodology
Based on the guiding papers on systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and bibliometric (Bhardwaj & Sharma, 2022, Kumar, Taneja, & Ozen, 2025a, Kumar, Sharma, & Bhardwaj, 2025b; Anshima, Bhardwaj, Sharma, & Chand, 2025; Jaswal, Sharma, Bhardwaj, & Kraus, 2024; Hassanein & Mostafa, 2023), the present study follows a stepwise and systematic procedure for bibliometric review. This approach has numerous benefits compared to conventional state-of-the-art review methods, such as analyzing a wider array of relevant subjects and delivering deeper insight (Hassanein, Benameur, Mostafa, Al-Shattarat, & Magar, 2025; Tahat, Hassanein, ElMelegy, & Al Hajj, 2025; Balkrishan, Bhardwaj, Sharma, & Dhiman, 2024). This study conducts a bibliometric analysis to map the landscape of the Indian GF literature, following the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol designed by Paul, Lim, O’Cass, Hao, and Bresciani (2021), which is specifically crafted for systematic, transparent and replicable literature reviews in business and management research. In contrast to other protocols like PRISMA, which was created to improve the transparency and quality of reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses, primarily within healthcare and medical research. In contrast, SPAR-4-SLR is particularly advantageous for investigations that encompass bibliometric and theme mapping. Multiple bibliometric reviews have also used this protocol (Jain, Sharma, & Sharma, 2024; Lim, Rasul, Kumar, & Ala, 2022; Chandra, Verma, Lim, Kumar, & Donthu, 2022; Anshima, Sharma, & Bhardwaj, 2025). It offers a thorough three-stage process, i.e. assembling, arranging and assessing the literature. The study employs a combination of bibliometric methodologies and thematic analysis to address the proposed research questions (Benameur, Mostafa, Hassanein, Shariff, & Al-Shattarat, 2024). Figure 1 depicts the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, including all three stages, i.e. assembling, arranging and assessing.
The figure contains three rectangular boxes arranged vertically from top to bottom. The headings of the boxes from top to bottom are: “Assembling,” “Arranging,” And “Assessing.” The boxes are connected by downward-facing arrows. The “Assembling” box includes text fields labeled “Domain,” followed by the description “Green Finance in the Indian context.” The next line reads “Research Question” with the description “Publication trend, publication characteristics, and thematic evolution.” The next line is “Search and Acquisition,” followed by “Scopus.” The next line is “Search Period,” followed by “2012 to April 2025.” The next line is “Search Keywords,” followed by the keywords with asterisks and logical ORs connecting them, ending with AND “India” and a note (n equals 367). A downward arrow leads to “Arranging.” The “Arranging” box includes text fields labeled “Organizing Filters,” followed by “Subject area, publication stage, document type and language.” Next is “Included Subject Areas,” with listed areas “Economics, econometrics and finance, business management and accounting and social science.” Then “Included Document Type” follows, with types “Research article, book chapter, review and conference paper.” The last line is “Included Language,” followed by “English” and a note (n equals 224). A downward arrow leads to “Assessing.” The “Assessing” box includes text fields labeled “Analysis method,” followed by “Bibliometric analysis and Science mapping.” Next is “Agenda Proposal,” with description “Bibliometric insights, identification of major themes, future research agendas, academic and practical implications.” Then “Reporting Conventions,” followed by “Tables, figures, charts and words.” The last field is “Limitations,” describing “Source (Scopus only), English language and parameter settings.”SPAR-4-SLR protocol. Source: Authors’ creation
The figure contains three rectangular boxes arranged vertically from top to bottom. The headings of the boxes from top to bottom are: “Assembling,” “Arranging,” And “Assessing.” The boxes are connected by downward-facing arrows. The “Assembling” box includes text fields labeled “Domain,” followed by the description “Green Finance in the Indian context.” The next line reads “Research Question” with the description “Publication trend, publication characteristics, and thematic evolution.” The next line is “Search and Acquisition,” followed by “Scopus.” The next line is “Search Period,” followed by “2012 to April 2025.” The next line is “Search Keywords,” followed by the keywords with asterisks and logical ORs connecting them, ending with AND “India” and a note (n equals 367). A downward arrow leads to “Arranging.” The “Arranging” box includes text fields labeled “Organizing Filters,” followed by “Subject area, publication stage, document type and language.” Next is “Included Subject Areas,” with listed areas “Economics, econometrics and finance, business management and accounting and social science.” Then “Included Document Type” follows, with types “Research article, book chapter, review and conference paper.” The last line is “Included Language,” followed by “English” and a note (n equals 224). A downward arrow leads to “Assessing.” The “Assessing” box includes text fields labeled “Analysis method,” followed by “Bibliometric analysis and Science mapping.” Next is “Agenda Proposal,” with description “Bibliometric insights, identification of major themes, future research agendas, academic and practical implications.” Then “Reporting Conventions,” followed by “Tables, figures, charts and words.” The last field is “Limitations,” describing “Source (Scopus only), English language and parameter settings.”SPAR-4-SLR protocol. Source: Authors’ creation
2.1 Assembling
The first stage of the SPAR-4-SLR protocol is assembling, which encompasses the identification and acquisition of pertinent articles for the review. For the current review, Indian GF literature was chosen as the research domain. The research questions were formulated to reveal the bibliometric insights and intellectual structure of the Indian GF literature. The first two research questions (RQ1 and RQ2) pertain to bibliometric analysis, whereas RQ3 concerns intellectual structure and thematic evolution in the Indian GF literature. The Scopus database was utilized to ensure the comprehensive inclusion and stringent indexing criteria. Scopus was selected as the principal database for multiple reasons, such as it is the biggest curated bibliographic database with 3 million new items added each year (Balkrishan, Bhardwaj, & Sharma, 2025; Baas, Schotten, Plume, Côté, & Karimi, 2020), access to a large number of papers compared to other databases as EBESCO or Google Scholar (Medias, Rosari, Susamto, & Ab Rahman, 2024) and it contains a wide range of paper about education and social science (Hallinger & Chatpinyakoop, 2019).
During the acquisition phase, essential factors such as search technique, search duration and relevant keywords were determined. The search timeframe covers a period, i.e. 2012 to 2025, as the first was traced back in 2012 only and the cutoff date for the dataset is April 2025. The selection of keywords was derived from significant empirical and review articles in the GF literature. The keywords (“Green Financ*” OR “Sustainable Financ*” OR “Environmen* Financ*” OR “Climate finance*” OR “Green Securit*” OR “Green Credit*” OR “Green Bond*” OR “Green Fund*” AND “India”) were employed to ensure the comprehensive coverage of pertinent literature. The keyword strings were used * multiple times, where * assists researchers to find multiple variations of the particular word, such as “Green Bond*” covers “Green Bond” and “Green Bonds”. By the end of the assembling phase, a total of 367 articles were gathered for further processing.
2.2 Arranging
The second phase of the SPAR-4-SLR is arranging, which incorporates organization and purification sub-stages. For a comprehensive overview of the Indian GF literature, we have included research articles, book chapters, review articles and conference papers. The procedure of the organization includes systematically coding based on the different filters, such as subject area, publication stage, document type and language. This systematic method facilitated effective and relevant categorization of literature. During the purification phase, literature pertinent to the subject area with a published status in Scopus-indexed journals was included, while irrelevant literature, as determined by the organizing filter, was excluded. Throughout the organization and purification phase, a total of 224 articles were retrieved and chosen for further evaluation using bibliometric and thematic analysis.
2.3 Assessing
The last phase of the SPAR-4-SLR protocol is assessing, which comprises evaluation (analysis method and agenda proposal) and reporting (reporting convention and limitation). The evaluation stage includes the analytical methods of performance analysis and science mapping. These were performed using various tools, specifically Excel, R-Studio, Biblioshiny and VOSviewer. The effective communication of findings and the limitation of studies can be assured by reporting. The reporting conventions for the review findings in the following parts include figures, tables, and text. This review is based on the Scopus database, which, although comprehensive and widely recognized, may not encompass all pertinent publications indexed in alternative repositories. However, Scopus's extensive coverage, including most journals listed in Web of Science, enhances the reliability of the dataset. The incorporation of English-language texts facilitates uniformity and accessibility, as English is the predominant medium for global scholarly communication. Although parameter settings such as keyword formulation and filtering criteria were carefully designed, they may still influence the final scope of included literature.
3. Bibliometric insights
This study employed various bibliometric techniques for data analysis, i.e. performance analysis, scientific mapping and manual review. The authors conducted a performance analysis to address the first research question (RQ1), detecting trends in research publications, the most prolific authors, journals and highly cited works. The Biblioshiny software was employed to obtain bibliometric insights. Table 1 delineates the salient features of the GF literature. A total of 367 articles were obtained in the Indian context by searching the selected keywords; however, only 224 articles were selected by applying the appropriate criteria, such as language, subject domain, etc., for further analysis, which were published across 155 Scopus-indexed journals. The number of publications on GF in India has risen at an average annual growth rate of 28.86% throughout the study period. The average age of the papers in the dataset is 2.4 years, indicating that the most pertinent research has been published recently.
Descriptive statistics of Indian GF literature
| Description | Result |
|---|---|
| Time-span | 2012:2025 |
| Sources | 155 |
| Documents | 224 |
| Annual growth rates | 28.86% |
| Authors | 588 |
| Single-authored documents | 45 |
| International co-authorship | 29.02% |
| Co-author per document | 2.88 |
| Authors' keywords | 654 |
| Document average age | 2.4 |
| Average citations | 12.92 |
3.1 Publication trend of GF literature in India
The analysis of publication trends reveals significant insights into the evolution of research interest in GF (RQ1). Figure 2 illustrates a significant increase in scholarly works since 2020, underscoring the growing interest of both academic and industrial sectors. In the early years, publications in this domain were scarce, with only a limited number of articles available. Publications from 2012 to 2019 constitute only 11% of the total publications of GF in India as of April 2025. Research interest in GF has increased since 2020, coinciding with the significant economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The popularity of GF has significantly increased among investors due to its economic, social and environmental aspects (Adekoya et al., 2021). The rising trend in publications related to GF highlights its growing importance as both a research domain and a financial market.
The figure shows a vertical bar graph and a line graph, titled “Publication Trend.” The vertical axis ranges from 0 to 80 in increments of 10. The horizontal axis is labeled with years “2012,” “2014,” “2015,” “2016,” “2017,” “2018,” “2019,” “2020,” “2021,” “2022,” “2023,” “2024,” and 2025. There are vertical bars for the publication count for each year. The data from the graph is as follows: 2012: 1. 2014: 2. 2015: 2. 2016: 3. 2017: 5. 2018: 4. 2019: 8. 2020: 6. 2021: 14. 2022: 25. 2023: 52. 2024: 75. 2025: 27. A dotted trend line connects the tops of the bars. The line increases gradually from (2012,2) to (2021, 14), and then rises sharply from 2022 onward, peaking at (2024, 75) and dropping to (2025, 27).GB publications trend. Source: Authors' creation
The figure shows a vertical bar graph and a line graph, titled “Publication Trend.” The vertical axis ranges from 0 to 80 in increments of 10. The horizontal axis is labeled with years “2012,” “2014,” “2015,” “2016,” “2017,” “2018,” “2019,” “2020,” “2021,” “2022,” “2023,” “2024,” and 2025. There are vertical bars for the publication count for each year. The data from the graph is as follows: 2012: 1. 2014: 2. 2015: 2. 2016: 3. 2017: 5. 2018: 4. 2019: 8. 2020: 6. 2021: 14. 2022: 25. 2023: 52. 2024: 75. 2025: 27. A dotted trend line connects the tops of the bars. The line increases gradually from (2012,2) to (2021, 14), and then rises sharply from 2022 onward, peaking at (2024, 75) and dropping to (2025, 27).GB publications trend. Source: Authors' creation
3.2 Article performance
Evaluating the efficacy of research articles is essential for identifying the most substantial contributions within a specific academic discipline. Table 2 presents the most impactful publications together with their total citations and average citations per year (RQ2). It offers an extensive comprehension of the papers’ scholarly impact and enduring significance. Highly cited seminal works frequently indicate transformative contributions that have shaped a research domain.
Most influential articles in Indian GF literature
| Most prolific articles | Authors | TC | C/Y |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financing firms in India | Allen et al. (2012) | 613 | 47.2 |
| Equitable mitigation to achieve the Paris agreement goals | Robiou et al. (2017) | 401 | 50.1 |
| Green finance for sustainable green economic growth in India | Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016) | 356 | 39.6 |
| Role of natural resources utilization efficiency in achieving green economic recovery: evidence from BRICS countries | Zhao and Rasoulinezhad (2023) | 210 | 105 |
| The emerging geographies of climate justice | Fisher (2015) | 177 | 17.7 |
| Green innovation for resource efficiency and sustainability: empirical analysis and policy | Sun, Gao, Tian, and Guan (2023) | 166 | 83 |
| Less than 2 °C? An economic-environmental evaluation of the Paris agreement | Nieto, Carpintero, and Miguel (2018) | 129 | 18.4 |
| Climate clubs and the macro-economic benefits of international cooperation on climate policy | Paroussos et al. (2019) | 119 | 19.8 |
| ‘A wave of green start-ups in India – the study of green finance as a support system for sustainable entrepreneurship’ | Bhatnagar et al. (2021) | 96 | 24 |
| Assessing the role of the green finance index in environmental pollution reduction | Iqbal, Taghizadeh-Hesary, Mohsin, and Iqbal (2021) | 95 | 23.6 |
Note(s): TC: Total Citation, C/Y: Citation per Year
In the field of GF, Allen, Chakrabarti, De, and Qian (2012) research title “Financing firms in India” is among the most cited articles, with a total of 613 citations. This article documents 47.2 citations per year, underscoring its considerable and enduring influence in the GF literature in India. Total citations evaluate an article’s extensive scholarly influence across various areas. The most cited publications in GF are by Robiou et al. (2017) and Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016), followed by Fisher (2015).
Table 3 summarizes the five most cited articles in the domain of GF and climate policy pertinent to the Indian context. Each item delineates the primary study focus, methodological framework and the findings of the separate investigations. The selected research includes both empirical and theoretical contributions, addressing subjects such as funding mechanisms, climate justice, mitigation fairness and resource efficiency. This overview provides insight into the foundational literature shaping current academic and policy debates on sustainable finance and climate action in India.
Description of top 5 influence papers
| Authors | Title | Focus area | Methodology | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen et al. (2012) | Financing Firms in India | Access to finance for Indian firms, especially SMEs | Empirical analysis using firm-level surveys and financial indicators | SMEs in India largely rely on alternative finance (e.g., trade credit and informal networks) rather than formal financial institutions |
| Robiou du Pont et al. (2017) | Equitable Mitigation to Achieve the Paris Agreement Goals | Emission pathways and fairness in global climate mitigation | Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) and equity-based burden-sharing frameworks | India’s emissions trajectory aligns with equity principles under multiple scenarios |
| Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016) | Green Finance for Sustainable Green Economic Growth in India | Role of GF in supporting sustainability | Policy analysis and conceptual synthesis | Identifies institutional and regulatory gaps that constrain GF growth |
| Zhao and Rasoulinezhad (2023) | Role of Natural Resources Utilization Efficiency in Achieving Green Economic Recovery | Resource efficiency and post-COVID green recovery among BRICS countries | Panel data econometrics (FMOLS, DOLS) | Resource efficiency significantly boosts green economic performance and environmental outcomes |
| Fisher (2015) | The Emerging Geographies of Climate Justice | Socio-political dimensions of climate justice in India | Qualitative fieldwork and discourse analysis | Climate justice discourses in India are shaped by local civil society narratives and national development concerns |
3.3 Journal performance
Analyzing journal performance in the GF literature in India underscores the effect of certain high-impact publications. Table 4 demonstrates that GF publications are commonly included in economics, management and transdisciplinary journals. A total of 224 articles have been published in 156 Scopus-indexed journals within the domain of GF. “Resources Policy”, “Sustainable Development”, “Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja”, “International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy” and “International Journal of Green Economics” are distinguished by their high citation counts, h-index, and article output (RQ2).
Top journals in the field of GF (Indian context)
| Source | TC | TLP | TC/TLP | h | Scimago ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resources Policy | 542 | 16 | 33.9 | 9 | Q1 |
| Sustainable Development | 128 | 6 | 21.3 | 4 | Q1 |
| Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja | 60 | 3 | 20.0 | 3 | Q2 |
| International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy | 21 | 3 | 7.0 | 3 | Q2 |
| International Journal of Green Economics | 82 | 4 | 20.5 | 3 | Q2 |
| Ecological Economics | 96 | 2 | 48.0 | 2 | Q1 |
| Energy Economics | 57 | 2 | 28.5 | 2 | Q1 |
| Environment, Development and Sustainability | 13 | 2 | 6.5 | 2 | Q1 |
| IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management | 18 | 2 | 9.0 | 2 | Q1 |
| International Journal of Business Innovation and Research | 17 | 4 | 4.3 | 2 | Q3 |
Note(s): TC: Total Citations; TLP: Total Publications in the Indian GF Literature; TC/TP: Citation per Publication; h: h-index
Some journals are highly prolific, while others have produced fewer publications but garnered high citations, underscoring that research significance is not merely determined by publication quantity. Moreover, journals that publish GF articles are typically highly ranked by Scimago ranking. The majority of journals are highly ranked (Q1 & Q2) as per the Scimago ranking criteria.
Table 5 offers a summary of the five leading journals that significantly contribute to the literature on GF and sustainability within the Indian context, according to citation and publishing metrics. Each magazine is succinctly characterized by its topic scope, Scimago ranking, cite score and pertinence to the research. These journals span interdisciplinary domains, including resource economics, sustainable development, energy policy and green economics. The table delineates the primary research focus and its alignment with the study’s theme areas, emphasizing the academic platforms that have influenced significant discussions in GF and sustainable economic policy.
Description of top 5 journals
| Journal title | Scope and focus | Scimago rank | Cite score | Relevance to study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resources Policy | Focuses on natural resource economics and policy, including energy, mining, and sustainability governance | Q1 | 17.0 | Publishes mostly empirical work on resource-based finance and development policy |
| Sustainable Development | Interdisciplinary focus on environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability | Q1 | 14.5 | Aligns with SDG-linked finance, sustainable governance, and institutional analysis |
| Economic Research – Ekonomska Istraživanja | Covers applied economic research in macroeconomics, development, and finance | Q2 | 7.1 | Provides regional economic analysis relevant to green and sustainable finance |
| International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy | Concentrates on energy policy, renewable energy economics, and market-based instruments | Q2 | 3.4 | Directly intersects with green energy finance, pricing, and investment trends |
| International Journal of Green Economics | Promotes ecological sustainability, equity, and green financial models | Q2 | 3.5 | Offers specialized insights into green economic transitions and investment tools |
3.4 Author performance
The assessment of author performance through metrics such as total publications, citations and h-index enables the identification of the most prolific, influential and collaborative authors within an academic discipline. This section identifies the primary contributors by analyzing their publication and citation records, as well as their patterns of academic engagement. Table 6 demonstrates the most prolific and influential authors in the field of GF, particularly in the Indian domain. Within the realm of GF literature in India, Taneja S, Özen E, Luthra S, Iqbal W and Kumar P are the most prolific authors, as evidenced by their h-index, total publications (GF publications), and total citations (citations from GF articles), reflecting their influence in the GF domain (RQ2).
Most prolific authors in Indian GF literature
| Authors | Affiliation | h | TLC | TLP | TC:GB/TLP | Publications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taneja S | Graphic Era University, India | 5 | 207 | 7 | 29.6 | Kumar et al. (2025a), Taneja (2024), Taneja and Özen (2023), Sharma, Taneja, Jangir, and Khanna (2024), Taneja, Kaur, and Özen (2022), Bhatnagar, Taneja, and Özen (2022), Bansal, Taneja, and Ozen (2023) |
| Özen E | Uşak Üniversitesi, Turkey | 3 | 185 | 3 | 61.7 | Taneja and Özen (2023), Taneja et al. (2022), Bhatnagar et al. (2022) |
| Iqbal W | Shenzhen University, China | 2 | 119 | 2 | 59.5 | Iqbal et al. (2021), Hailiang et al. (2023) |
| Luthra S | All India Council for Technical Education, India | 2 | 48 | 2 | 24.0 | Wasan, Kumar, and Luthra (2021), Yadav, Samadhiya, Kumar, Luthra, and Pandey (2024) |
| Kumar P | Chandigarh University, India | 2 | 14 | 3 | 4.7 | Kumar et al. (2025a), Gupta, Kumar, and Ghai (2024) |
Note(s): h: h-index, TLC: Total Citation from GF Articles, TLP: Total Publications on GF in the Indian Context, TC/TP: Average Citation per GF Publication
The leading authors in the GF sector exhibit distinctive thematic investigations within the field. Taneja S has concentrated significantly on sustainable development through green bonds, low-carbon financing, and the function of GF in promoting entrepreneurship and institutional efficacy, especially within the Indian framework. Özen E has contributed to the examination of the association between green banking practices and environmental performance, while also focusing on the role of GF in promoting sustainable business environments. Iqbal W focuses on the empirical evaluation of GF tools, examining their efficacy in mitigating pollution and fostering renewable energy investments within BRICS countries. Luthra S has examined barriers to GF in emerging economies, proposing strategic solutions, and has also explored the nexus between fintech, GF and sustainable resource management within the BRICS nations. Kumar P has investigated the integration of GF within India’s commercial banking sector, emphasizing its influence on sustainability metrics and financial restructuring for environmental objectives.
4. Science mapping
The previous section described the results of the performance analysis, emphasizing significant publication patterns, influential articles, prominent authors and sources in the field of GF in India. This analysis offers useful insights into the productivity and impact dimensions of the literature, although it fails to disclose the underlying intellectual and collaborative frameworks. This section uses scientific mapping techniques, specifically co-citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis, to elucidate the knowledge foundation (past) and knowledge production (present) of the topic (Lim et al., 2022). This comprehensive method strengthens the study by providing both quantitative performance measurements and qualitative structural insights.
4.1 Evolution of GF in India
The development of GF in India has closely aligned with global sustainability achievements while maintaining distinct domestic features. Subsequent to the Paris Agreement, India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to lower emission intensity and increase renewable capacity led to new policies like SEBI’s green bond guidelines, GOI's framework for SGB issuances and the RBI’s decision to include renewable energy in priority sector lending. The first green bond issued by an Indian company (Yes Bank) in 2015 (Prakash & Sethi, 2021; Jangid et al., 2024a), and the first certified green bond in Asia was issued by an Indian company (Hero Future Energies). By the end of the financial year 2024–25, the total GB issuance volume reached 6,953 crores (SEBI, 2025). In India, the focus of academic research has also shifted, moving from theoretical discussions about sustainable growth to empirical work on bond markets, ESG disclosure and inclusion driven by fintech. This is in line with global trends and India’s policy agendas.
4.2 Knowledge foundation through co-citation analysis
A co-citation analysis was performed to outline the knowledge foundation of GF research in India (RQ3). It entailed finding and grouping GB articles that were frequently cited together due to their topical similarities. In this co-citation analysis, only documents cited at least 4 times were included. This threshold was set to focus on works with substantial scholarly influence and to minimize noise from infrequently cited sources. Applying this criterion resulted in 33 qualifying items for analysis. Co-citation analysis network revealed four prominent themes that form the knowledge foundation of GF literature in India. Figure 3 reveals the co-citation analysis network, presenting the knowledge production of the said domain, whereas Table 7 presents the clusters and their associated themes.
The nodes in the network diagram are grouped into four color-coded clusters. The blue cluster at the top left includes authors such as “Hair j.f.,” “Sharma m.,” “risher j.j.,” Taghizadeh henry f,” “kim j. d.,” “Choubey a.,” “green b,” and Park h. The red cluster at the bottom features authors including “Agarwal s.,” “Kanamura t.,” “jin j.,” singh t.,” gianfrate g.,” and Pham l.” Further to the right, a large green cluster contains authors like “Wang m.,” “Ren x.,” “Rasoulinezhad m.,” “Pesaran m. h.,” and “impact of fintech.” The green cluster extends into a Yellow-Green cluster on the far right, including authors like “Westerlund j.,” “Chueca Vergara c.,” “ferruz.,” and “Testing for err.” Numerous connecting lines form a densde network of nodes.Knowledge foundation network of Indian GF literature based on co-citation analysis. Source: Authors' creation, Vosviewer
The nodes in the network diagram are grouped into four color-coded clusters. The blue cluster at the top left includes authors such as “Hair j.f.,” “Sharma m.,” “risher j.j.,” Taghizadeh henry f,” “kim j. d.,” “Choubey a.,” “green b,” and Park h. The red cluster at the bottom features authors including “Agarwal s.,” “Kanamura t.,” “jin j.,” singh t.,” gianfrate g.,” and Pham l.” Further to the right, a large green cluster contains authors like “Wang m.,” “Ren x.,” “Rasoulinezhad m.,” “Pesaran m. h.,” and “impact of fintech.” The green cluster extends into a Yellow-Green cluster on the far right, including authors like “Westerlund j.,” “Chueca Vergara c.,” “ferruz.,” and “Testing for err.” Numerous connecting lines form a densde network of nodes.Knowledge foundation network of Indian GF literature based on co-citation analysis. Source: Authors' creation, Vosviewer
Major themes based on co-citation analysis
| Cluster | Related themes | Major contributors |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Green Bond Pricing, Risk and Returns | Pham (2016), Tang and Zhang (2020), Gianfrate and Peri (2019), Hyun, Park, and Tian (2020), Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016) |
| 2 | Empirical Assessment of Green Finance Impact | Ren, Shao, and Zhong (2020), Wang, Li, and Wang (2021), Rasoulinezhad and Taghizadeh-Hesary (2022), Nenavath (2022), Khan, Riaz, Ahmed, and Saeed (2022) |
| 3 | ESG relevance and institutional role in GF | Friede, Busch, and Bassen (2015), Sharma and Choubey (2022), Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016) |
| 4 | Fintech-driven innovation in GF | Muganyi, Yan, and Sun (2021), Vergara and Agudo (2021), Khan et al. (2022) |
4.2.1 Green bond pricing, risk and returns
The first cluster (red) highlights foundational research on green bonds’ financial dynamics, particularly focusing on pricing, yield spread, risk-return trade-off and comparison with conventional bonds. Pham (2016) and Tang and Zhang (2020) analyze market pricing and the perceived value of green bonds, whereas Gianfrate and Peri (2019) and Hyun et al. (2020) assess the existence of greenium in the green bond market. Methodologies include bond pricing models and regression analysis, with Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016) contextualizing these findings within Indian financial markets.
4.2.2 Empirical assessment of green finance impact
The second cluster (green) comprises studies focused on the quantitative evaluation of the GF’s role in fostering environmental and economic progress. Ren et al. (2020), Wang et al. (2021), and Rasoulinezhad and Taghizadeh-Hesary (2022) employed advanced econometric techniques to examine the relationship between GF, carbon emission, renewable energy and fiscal health. Nenavath (2022) and Khan et al. (2022) applied semi-parametric models to evaluate the relevant policy outcomes in India. The cluster reflects a quantitative and evidence-based evolution of the field, with emphasis on policy integration, measurement of GF impact and verification of long-term environmental outcomes through empirical techniques.
4.2.3 ESG relevance and institutional role in green finance
The third cluster (yellow) encompasses studies on conceptualization, institutionalization and ESG integration with GF. Friede et al. (2015) provide theoretical clarity and evaluate ESG linkages with financial performance. Region-specific studies, including Sharma and Choubey (2022) and Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016), analyze how Indian financial institutions adopt green compliance. The cluster emphasizes governance, regulatory coherence and ESG alignment in shaping sustainable financial systems, particularly in emerging markets.
4.2.4 Fintech-driven innovation in green finance
The fourth cluster (blue) explores the intersection of Fintech and GF, highlighting how digital tools like blockchain, AI and digital platforms are transforming sustainable finance (Muganyi et al., 2021). Vergara and Agudo (2021) and Muganyi et al. (2021) examine the role of fintech in enhancing transparency among the stakeholders. Research by Taghizadeh-Hesary and Yoshino (2020) and Khan et al. (2022) emphasizes innovation’s role in improving financial inclusion and information flow. This cluster reflects the role of fintech in enhancing the working mechanism of GF.
4.3 Knowledge production through keyword co-occurrence analysis
A keyword co-occurrence analysis was conducted to map the thematic structure of GF research in India (RQ3). Authors’ keywords were extracted and analyzed for co-appearance to identify clusters of related concepts (Cancino, Merigó, Coronado, Dessouky, & Dessouky, 2017). Keywords are selected only if they occur a minimum of 5 times, ensuring that only significant terms are presented. This method revealed distinct research streams, illustrating the intellectual landscape of the field (Donthu, Kumar, Mukherjee, Pandey, & Lim, 2021). Table 8 presents the main keywords, outlining the themes associated with them. As shown in Figure 4, six major thematic clusters emerged, indicating diverse research directions.
Major keywords and relevant themes
| Cluster | Major keywords | Drafted theme |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Economic Growth, Environmental Sustainability, Green Bond, Green Finance, Green Financing, Green Investment, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goals | Green Finance as a Catalyst for Economic Growth and SDG Advancement |
| Green | BRICS, China, Financial Inclusion, Fintech, Natural Resource | Fintech-led Green Finance in BRICS and Developing Nations |
| Blue | Environment, India, Microfinance, Renewable Energy | Decentralized Green Solutions and Local Sustainability |
| Yellow | ESG, Green Bonds, Sustainability, Sustainable Finance | ESG Integration in Financial Decision-making |
| Purple | Climate Change, Climate Finance | Climate Risk Mitigation Through Financial Instruments |
The network diagram displays a keyword co-occurrence network visualization. The nodes in the network diagram are grouped into four color-coded clusters. The red cluster at the top and center includes nodes like “green finance,” “sustainable development,” “economic growth,” “green financing,” “green bond.” To the right, a distinct blue cluster includes terms like “India,” “microfinance,” “renewable energy,” and “environment.” The purple term above blue shows terms like “climate finance” and “climate change”. The yellow cluster on the left and top left includes terms like “green bonds,” “E S G,” and “sustainable finance.” The green cluster at the bottom left includes “fintech,” “financial inclusion,” “natural resources,” “financial inclusion,” and “China.”Knowledge production based on keyword co-occurrence map. Source: Authors' creation, VOSviewer
The network diagram displays a keyword co-occurrence network visualization. The nodes in the network diagram are grouped into four color-coded clusters. The red cluster at the top and center includes nodes like “green finance,” “sustainable development,” “economic growth,” “green financing,” “green bond.” To the right, a distinct blue cluster includes terms like “India,” “microfinance,” “renewable energy,” and “environment.” The purple term above blue shows terms like “climate finance” and “climate change”. The yellow cluster on the left and top left includes terms like “green bonds,” “E S G,” and “sustainable finance.” The green cluster at the bottom left includes “fintech,” “financial inclusion,” “natural resources,” “financial inclusion,” and “China.”Knowledge production based on keyword co-occurrence map. Source: Authors' creation, VOSviewer
4.3.1 Green finance as a catalyst for economic growth and SDG advancement
The first cluster (red) explores the driver role of GF in economic growth and sustainable development, with a focus on India. Financial tools such as green bonds, sustainability-linked bonds and sustainable loans aid environmentally beneficial initiatives and address ecological objectives with long-term planning. Agarwal and Singh (2018) and Bhatnagar and Sharma (2021) examine the institutional frameworks supporting this integration, highlighting GF's role in promoting inclusive, climate-resilient development.
4.3.2 Fintech-led green finance in BRICS and developing nations
The second cluster (green) focuses on the synergy between fintech and GF, particularly in BRICS and developing nations. Fintech supports GF through digital innovations such as integrating GF’s working mechanism with AI, blockchain and mobile banking. Vergara and Agudo (2021) and Lisha et al. (2023) discuss digital platforms’ role in enabling climate-oriented investments. In India, Nenavath (2022) shows how fintech fosters financial inclusion and narrows GF gaps, especially in rural areas. These tools also aid in tracking environmental outcomes and lowering transaction costs.
4.3.3 Decentralized green solutions and local sustainability
The third cluster (blue) centers on bottom-up, community-driven strategies for sustainable development enabled by GF. It emphasizes micro-level renewable energy systems, financial inclusion via microfinance and adoption of local sustainability practices. Sharma and Choubey (2022) and Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016) highlight how microfinance institutions and rural banks foster green ventures and small-scale energy initiatives in India. These localized pursuits are essential in regions with inadequate infrastructure, where conventional financing is unavailable.
4.3.4 ESG integration in financial decision-making
This cluster (yellow) investigates how ESG principles are integrated into financial systems. Friede et al. (2015), Tahat and Hassanein (2024) provide a theoretical context of ESG in the financial ecosystem, whereas Sharma and Choubey (2022) assess ESG implementation in finance, especially in investment and disclosure practices. Stakeholders use ESG indicators to examine the firms' sustainability and long-term viability. In India, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) is a mandatory ESG disclosure for the top 1,000 listed companies.
4.3.5 Climate risk mitigation through financial instruments
The last cluster (purple) contains two keywords, i.e. climate change and climate finance, indicating the mobilization of GF toward climate change. Tools such as green bonds, carbon markets, and insurance products are leveraged to support adaptation and mitigation efforts while managing exposure to climate shocks. In India, climate-resilient financial practices are gaining prominence in areas prone to natural disasters and agricultural volatility.
5. Discussion
5.1 Key findings
This study seeks to delineate the intellectual structure of GF literature in the Indian context, utilizing bibliometric analyses (performance analysis technique and science mapping) to address the above-mentioned RQs. The current study uncovers several insights about the GF literature in the Indian context. First, the literature on GF in the Indian context has expanded significantly (RQ1) with an annual growth rate of 28.86%, particularly in the last five years. GF literature has experienced a significant increase after 2020, owing to the pandemic crisis and the benefits of hedging and diversification GB provides throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, the findings indicated (RQ2) that “Resources Policy”, “Sustainable Development”, “International Journal of Green Economics” and “International Journal of Business Innovation and Research” are the top journals in the domain of GF, particularly in the Indian context. Third, the five most cited works in the field of Indian GF have collectively garnered more than 1700 citations, which highlights their role in the knowledge foundation of GF in India (RQ2). These articles are authored by Allen et al. (2012), Robiou et al. (2017), Soundarrajan and Vivek (2016), Zhao and Rasoulinezhad (2023), and Fisher (2015). Fourth, Taneja S, Özen E, Iqbal W, Luthra S and Kumar P are the top contributors. Their combined efforts shaped the GF literature in the Indian context.
Fifth, the knowledge foundation of GF literature is attributed to four thematic clusters, i.e. green bond pricing, risk, and returns, empirical assessment of GF impact, ESG relevance and institutional role in GF and fintech-driven innovation in GF. Last, the knowledge production or the present of GF research is underpinned by six thematic clusters, i.e. Green Finance as a Catalyst for Economic Growth and SDG Advancement, Fintech-led Green Finance in BRICS and Developing Nations, Decentralized green solutions and local sustainability, ESG integration in financial decision-making and Climate risk mitigation through financial instruments. Combinedly, these themes form the knowledge foundation and knowledge production, which highlights the past and present of the GF literature in the Indian context and also demonstrates the thematic evolution within a research domain.
A closer examination of the dominant themes, particularly green bond pricing and ESG integration, reveals an overrepresentation of research aligned with regulatory signaling and market-based instruments. This can be partly attributed to India’s post-2015 GF push, as the first green bond was also issued in 2015 by an Indian company, following commitments under the Paris Agreement, and the recent issuance of sovereign green bonds in 2023. This indicates that government policy and commitment are the key drivers to influence this market rather than bottom-up innovation or grassroots financial experimentation.
The academic debate in India about digital sustainability technologies (such as blockchain for ESG reporting), climate-aligned investment taxonomies and blended finance structures is less advanced than that of the EU and China. The EU’s Green Deal and China’s Green Credit Guidelines have sparked complicated scholarly debates over the legal, financial and environmental dimensions. The lack of comprehensive models in Indian literature signifies a thematic and methodological shortcoming. To close this gap, policy studies, environmental economics and development finance need to work together across disciplines.
5.2 Future research agenda
Based on the findings of performance and science mapping analyses, there are presently various avenues for further research in GF. They can be categorized into three primary groups: thematic gaps, methodological advancements and novel analytical instruments.
5.2.1 Thematic gaps
The analysis identified a concentration of publications that address environmental risk mitigation, ESG and green bonds, notably in the post-2020 period. However, the relationship between the SDGs and GF instruments is still unexplored. Future research could investigate the extent to which specific GF instruments, including sustainability-linked loans, ESG funds or green bonds, help to achieve the SDGs (Banga, 2019). This encompasses an evaluation of their contribution to the achievement of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). In order to offer a comprehensive assessment of the impact, these investigations may be conducted at a variety of levels of analysis, including firm-level, sectoral, national and cross-country. Moreover, despite the fact that recent clusters have emphasized topics such as climate-focused innovation, decentralized financial systems and fintech-enabled GF, these themes are conceptually fragmented and inadequately theorized (Kwong, Kwok, & Wong, 2023). Integrative frameworks that investigate how digital financial innovations and AI (e.g., blockchain, digital currencies, carbon tokenization) are altering the governance and access to green capital, particularly in developing and emergent economies such as India, could be developed in future research to address this issue (Sharma, Salehi, Bhardwaj, Chand, & Salihy, 2023). Additionally, India's participation in global taxonomies (e.g., EU Green Taxonomy alignment) remains an untapped area of inquiry with substantial policy relevance.
5.2.2 Methodological gaps
The existing volume of GF literature is primarily quantitative and largely dependent on secondary or market-oriented data. This method is useful, but it doesn’t take into account the experiential and institutional aspects of putting GF into practice. Qualitative and mixed-methods research is needed to get a better picture of how stakeholders feel and how things are changing in the context. For instance, investigating the perceptions of investors and issuers regarding green bonds, specifically concerning trustworthiness, transparency, risk and return, can provide insights into behavioral and institutional obstacles to market adoption.
Furthermore, primary research that includes interviews, surveys and case studies may reveal the practical obstacles that financial institutions and firms encounter when integrating sustainability metrics into their operations, as well as the challenges associated with policy implementation and interagency coordination. Such an investigation would be especially pertinent for documenting the on-the-ground realities of GF deployment in India’s diverse socio-economic landscape, which includes rural and informal sectors that are frequently disregarded in macro-level studies.
5.2.3 Technological and analytical gaps
Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and machine learning have transformed organizations and their business management practices (Sharma et al., 2023; Anshima & Bhardwaj, 2023). Future studies in GF need to utilize AI and ML to scrutinize intricate and substantial datasets. These tools can improve climate risk predictions, make green investment portfolios better, and help with the analysis of unstructured data (such as ESG disclosures, regulatory texts and media sentiment). Sentiment research utilizing machine learning can track market perceptions of green financial products, whilst scenario analysis powered by AI can aid policymakers in modelling the financial impacts of green policy instruments across diverse economic and environmental contexts. Integrating these techniques could improve the analytical rigor and practical relevance of forthcoming GF research.
5.3 Implications
5.3.1 Academic implications
This research provides a systematic integration of GF literature in the Indian context and makes scholarly contributions in various ways. It establishes the groundwork for future studies by mapping thematic clusters and uncovering gaps in existing literature, thus providing directions for theoretically and empirically sound investigations. This study utilized co-citation and keyword co-occurrence analysis to depict the knowledge foundation (past) and knowledge production (present) of the GF literature. Additionally, this review provides the knowledge synthesis and future direction of the GF literature. Extending beyond literature mapping, this study proposes methodological diversification in Indian GF research. Future research should consider longitudinal evaluations of the effects of green bonds and mixed-method assessments in the Indian context.
5.3.2 Practical implications
This study provides essential insights for firms, investors, governments and financial institutions in integrating sustainability into financial processes. Firms can align their sustainable commitment and CSR activities by obtaining and employing funds in sustainable projects. Similarly, investors can invest their money in GF instruments such as green bonds, sustainability-linked bonds, etc., to finance the environment-friendly projects.
This study also offers valuable implications for policy and practice in the Indian GF landscape. First, the thematic clusters and publication trends derived from the analysis provide actionable insights for regulatory bodies such as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the SEBI. For regulators such as SEBI and RBI, the clustering of research around green bonds suggests the need to expand market depth through risk mitigation tools (e.g., credit enhancements and guarantee schemes). This aligns with SEBI’s guidelines for Green Bonds, which state that there must be clear definitions, environmental goals, reporting regarding how the fund is utilized, and optional third-party certification to avoid greenwashing and make things more transparent (SEBI, 2023).
Second, by highlighting the contributions of specific institutions and authors, the study supports capacity-building efforts through the identification of expertise hubs, which can serve as focal points for training, public outreach and stakeholder engagement on GF issues. This corresponds with India’s Sovereign Green Bond Framework, which says that the funds must be used undoubtedly, that the GF Working Committee must evaluate the projects, and that the money must be used for SDG-linked infrastructure in clean energy, transportation and resource efficiency (Government of India, 2022).
Lastly, Financial institutions can leverage the fintech integration themes by piloting blockchain-enabled traceability in ESG bond issuances. Policymakers could use thematic gaps identified, such as the weak SDG linkage, to prioritize subsidy targeting and reporting mandates for private ESG instruments.
6. Conclusion
This study conducts one of the earlier bibliometric and science mapping analyses on GF literature within the Indian context. The findings reveal a substantial growth in GF publications post-2020 (pandemic crisis), corresponding with heightened global and domestic attention to sustainable finance. High-impact authors, journals and knowledge clusters were identified, spanning domains such as green bond pricing, fintech integration, ESG relevance, and localized green financing. Synthesizing the findings, it becomes evident that India’s GF research is shaped by regulatory momentum, emergent fintech adoption, and selective ESG integration, yet lacks depth in interdisciplinary convergence and sub-national financial decentralization. Furthermore, there are certain limitations inherent to the current study. Only the Scopus database was utilized to delineate the intellectual landscape of GF and this study emphasized the Indian context of GF literature only. Literature published in English was included, hence excluding other important publications such as books and grey literature on GF. Despite the limitation, this study reveals important insights about the Indian GF literature. Moving forward, scholars should explore the interactions between GF and socio-environmental justice, behavioral finance and regional disparities in access to sustainable capital (Jangid et al., 2024a).
