RENEWABLE ENERGY, HYDROGEN TO MAKE INDIA WORLD’S 3RD LARGEST ECONOMY
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated ‘India Energy Week 2023’ in Bengaluru and said that it is the first major energy event in India’s G20 Presidency Calendar.
The India Energy Week (IEW) 2023 in Bengaluru will be held from Feb. 6 to 8 and is aimed to showcase the country’s rising prowess as an energy transition powerhouse.
This will be PM Modi’s third visit to the poll-bound State in less than a month. He visited Hubballi on Jan. 12 where he inaugurated a national youth festival and staged a massive roadshow. On Jan. 19, he was in Yadgiri and Kalaburagi Districts.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were also present at the PM’s event today.
Addressing the delegates from the energy industry across the country, the PM stressed that there is no better place than India to make energy sector investments.
“The energy sector plays a major role in deciding the future of the world in the 21st century. India is one of the strongest voices today in developing new resources of energy and in the energy transition. The country which is also all set to become a developed nation, has unprecedented possibilities for the energy sector,” he said.
PM Modi also said that Bengaluru always gives him a special energy whenever he visits the city. “Bengaluru is a city filled with the energy of technology, talent and innovation. Just like me, you too must be feeling the young energy here. This is the first major energy event in India’s G20 Presidency Calendar and I am glad to be in the city,” added the Prime Minister.
PM Modi met top oil and gas industry leaders for the annual brainstorming to discuss ideas and initiatives to put India on a sustainable growth path, sources aware of the matter said.
The meeting on the sidelines of the India Energy Week in Bengaluru saw the Prime Minister outline his vision to make India the world’s third-largest economy from the current fifth-largest. For this, the fuel needed should come from renewables, biofuels and hydrogen.
Sources said at the meeting PM Modi spoke of using 100 per cent renewable energy and increasing blends of ethanol and biofuels in traditional fuels.
Also, he talked about making India the world’s largest hydrogen-producing nation.
Hydrogen is the cleanest known fuel which on burning emits only water and oxygen.
Sources said heads of international oil companies such as BP plc of UK, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies participated. Rosneft head Igor Sechin too attended the meeting.
Heads of Indian public sector companies, as well as international Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol, too attended the meeting. Mining billionaire Anil Agarwal as well as Tullow Oil CEO Rahul Dhir were also present.
Sources said industry leaders spoke of imperatives for making India the world leader.
Some wanted taxes in the oil and gas sector to be brought down to global levels of 40 per cent from the current 70 per cent, while others talked about enabling ease of doing business through self-certification.
