19NOVEMBER 2025Usha Subramaniam, Country President of Grundfos India, in an exclusive interaction with Thiruamuthan, Assistant Editor at Industry Outlook, discusses the pivotal role of energy-efficient pump technologies in India's water-energy nexus. She highlights how these solutions reduce energy consumption, manage water resources, support industries, and enable sustainable growth aligned with the country's net-zero and development ambitions.Usha is a seasoned business leader with over two decades of global experience across Europe, the US, and Asia. She is skilled in business management, profit-center leadership, and people development and has consistently driven organizational success while championing diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. INDUSTRY INSIGHTSWHY ENERGY-EFFICIENT PUMPS ARE THE FUTURE OF WATER SOLUTIONS As India accelerates efforts to make its water infrastructure more energy-efficient, how are advanced pump technologies transforming usage across agriculture and utilities today? I believe this is one of the most important topics when we consider India's development and its ambitions to become a high-GDP, developed nation. Two vital enablers of this growth are water and energy, and right at the center of both is the role of pumps. For India to thrive, our industries such as manufacturing, infrastructure, and services must perform powerfully. This spans industries, commercial infrastructure such as railways and airports, and essential services like hospitals, malls, and water utilities. Achieving efficiency across the spectrum requires a joint management of water and energy, together.In many industries, water plays a critical role, whether in traditional or advanced operations. Sectors like textiles, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage are highly water-intensive. Key applications include heating, cooling, and treatment. For example, the pharmaceutical sector requires cooling with clean water at controlled temperature levels, while in the food and beverage sector, water treatment is indispensable. Here, technology becomes crucial. Advanced pumps and digital solutions help optimize processes and significantly reduce energy consumption. Pumps alone can lower industrial energy usage by 20 to 70 percent, which is a considerable reduction in operating costs. This is achieved through innovations like permanent magnet motors, optimized hydraulics, and digital monitoring systems that provide predictive insights. At Grundfos, we describe this as enabling "water to speak"--using data to interpret water's behavior and optimize its use. With increasing stress on both energy consumption and groundwater levels in key water-use sectors, how are energy-efficient pumps helping address these dual challenges? I think this is at the center of India's water and energy nexus, as the country has traditionally depended heavily on groundwa-ter. India extracts about 230 cubic kilometers annually, more than 25 percent of global extraction--a very high number. Over time, this depletion has wreaked havoc, severely affecting ag-riculture, irrigation, and the drinking water supply. All studies forecast that demand will continue to escalate, making it criti-cal to curb excessive extraction and use. Usha Subramaniam, Country PresidentUsha Subramaniam, Country President, Grundfos India
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