India needs to manage daylight much better than it does. Maximizing it is also a good place to start to be more energy efficient. Not using daylight properly comes at a cost of $4.1 billion, or 0.2% of GDP, according to a Cornell study, in addition to health impacts. Experts have suggested multiple time zones in India, perhaps reverting to the pre-1947 system of two time zones, as proposed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) National Physical Laboratory, India's official time keeper.

But considering the huge investments required, as well as the logistical exercise of coordination, this idea is unattractive; daylight savings is a more practical option. Daylight savings time, or summertime, is the system of advancing the clock by an hour to get more light out of the day. This would permit using the extra hour of daylight in the summer months between March and October. And it would avoid using lights on winter mornings because the sun rises later.

This system will be particularly useful in the eastern and northeast part of the country. To further maximise use of daylight, a shift from uniform opening hours at the workplace can be advantageous. The sun sets roughly 90 minutes later in western parts of the country than in the eastern parts.

In northeast and eastern states, establishments could begin work an hour earlier than elsewhere. It would allow people here to match their working hours to environmental cues, while giving a head start to others elsewhere. Advancing time to maximise use of daylight has energy-saving potential, which will significantly alter energy usage, cut down India's carbon footprint and help leverage the natural resource of sunlight. It is about making the most of the sunshine while it lasts.