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Summary
As the country becomes more prone to heatwaves, floods and humidity, businesses need to safeguard workers. Exposed sectors such as construction, logistics and small manufacturing must look beyond climate action as a disclosure issue and focus on people—or risk disruption.
India’s climate debate still revolves largely around energy, emissions and infrastructure. But corporate India has an obvious immediate challenge to contend with: how to keep people working safely in a hotter and more flood-prone country.
Extreme heat and frequent flooding are no longer occasional disruptions. They are beginning to affect labour productivity, supply chains and operating costs across sectors that depend heavily on informal and contract workers.
Construction, logistics, warehousing, transport, delivery networks and small manufacturing are especially exposed because much of their workforce operates outdoors or in poorly protected environments.
Rising heat is already reducing work hours and lowering productivity. Research on informal workers in Delhi found that income dropped sharply during periods of extreme heat as workers slowed down, stopped work or fell ill.
Flooding creates a different but equally expensive problem. Waterlogged roads delay deliveries, disrupt transport and prevent workers from reaching factories, warehouses and construction sites.
In cities where supply chains depend on daily movement and thin margins, even short disruptions can ripple through production systems.
Businesses are beginning to recognize this risk. A climate resilience report by the Confederation of Indian Industry notes that companies increasingly face losses linked to heat stress, heavy rainfall and supply-chain disruption. Some firms are busy adapting. Companies exposed to climate risks are diversifying suppliers across regions so that floods or heatwaves in one location do not shut down operations.
But diversification alone will not solve the larger problem. India’s climate exposure includes the risk of high humidity to go with heat, which makes it harder for the human body to keep cool through the evaporation effect of perspiration. This exposes workers in textiles, construction, steel and other sectors to heat stress. If workers cannot operate safely for long periods during heatwaves or floods, businesses suffer. This calls for a shift in how companies think about adaptation.
Much of corporate India treats climate resilience as an infrastructure or disclosure issue. In reality, workplace adaptation may soon become just as important as energy transition targets.
Some solutions are straightforward. Heat-safe worksites with shaded rest areas, hydration points and scheduled cooling breaks can reduce productivity losses to extreme heat. Companies engaged in construction, warehousing, logistics, etc, also need new operating protocols, including night shifts during severe heat phases.
The same goes for flooding risk. Businesses dependent on rapid movement of goods need flood-resilient logistics systems, decentralized warehouse networks and stronger backup transport arrangements.
There is also an investment angle. Research by the Climate Policy Initiative points to rising interest in cooling infrastructure, climate-resilient services and adaptation-focused technologies. These allocations are often discussed as sustainability measures. But they should be viewed as productivity investments. Corporate India may also need to rethink how corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance budgets are used.
A large share of climate-linked spending goes towards visible environmental projects. Yet, adaptation efforts focused on workers and supply chains may deliver more immediate returns.
Cooling for labour-intensive workplaces, flood protection for industrial clusters and climate-risk support for small suppliers should be business priorities. This goes well beyond worker welfare as it is about operational continuity.
The challenge sits awkwardly within India’s current policy framework. Heat action plans in many cities remain focused mainly on emergency response and public health advisories. But climate risk is now affecting sectors dominated by informal and contract labour.
Labour regulation in India largely assumes a formal workplace model centred on factories and registered establishments. India’s Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code expands workplace safety provisions in some areas, but climate-linked risks for informal and gig workers remain weakly addressed in practice.
State governments could also use tax incentives, concessional financing and procurement rules to encourage private investment in climate-resilient workplaces and logistics systems. Cities need to play a major role too. Urban adaptation plans that improve drainage, transport resilience and worker access during extreme weather may increasingly become an economic aspect of climate policy.
India’s climate vulnerability was once viewed as an environmental story. It is now becoming a workforce story, a productivity story and therefore a story of corporate performance.
As heatwaves join higher levels of humidity across large parts of India, raising the spectre of ‘wet-bulb’ heat, companies that adapt early may discover that climate resilience is not just about avoiding disruption. It is about protecting the workforce that keeps the drivers of India’s economy moving.
The country’s next phase of growth will depend on its infrastructure build-up and investment flows as much as on whether millions of workers that lack ambient air quality control can work safely and productively in less comfortable conditions.
The author is an independent expert based in New Delhi, Kolkata and Odisha. Twitter: @scurve Instagram: @soumya.scurve.
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