The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has been working in India on cleaner production initiatives since the early 1990s and established the National Cleaner Production Center (NCPC), hosted by the National Productivity Council (NPC) in 1995, to promote cleaner production at a national level. The combined mission of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO) and UNIDO also revealed the enormous potential that exists in the SME sector for cleaner production measures, which culminated in the development of the program called "Cleaner Technology Promotion in India (CTPI)." UNIDO is executing the above initiative under the CTPI program with financial support from the Swiss government.

The basic objective of the CTPI project is to promote the transfer of cleaner and environmentally sound technologies, not yet commonly used in India, from Switzerland and other OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. The project also facilitates the preparation of necessary Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project documentation, and capacity building of the staff of the Indian enterprises in successful implementation and operation of the projects. WII has been selected by UNIDO as a service provider for implementing the CTPI project in India and facilitating the CDM project development.

Currently, the technologies being targeted under the CTPI project are those for operations in the manufacture of automotive components, for cogeneration, and for the reduction of persistent organic pollutants’ (POPs) emissions. The geographic locations selected in the first phase are Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. However, for CDM services the scope of the project has been expanded to other states too.