Securing affordable, sustainable energy top agenda for India: Pradhan

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said that securing affordable and sustainable energy figures as a top agenda for India.

Speaking at a session on 'Re-energizing India' at the India Economic Summit here today, the Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Minister said: "Today, we are meeting in the backdrop of a major oil and gas crisis, resulting from attacks on Saudi oil processing plants at Abqaiq and Khurais."

"The price volatility and concerns about sustained oil supplies have made consuming countries vulnerable given the fact that India, along with most South Asian countries, has a major dependency on crude oil and gas imports," he added.

"So securing affordable and sustainable energy figures as a top agenda for all these countries, including India," Pradhan stated.

The Minister also said that it is only natural that global energy deliberations pay close attention to the developments in the energy sector in India. This has a lot to do with the emergence of India as third-largest energy consumer in the world, he added.

The fact that India is playing a leading role globally by implementing several transformative initiatives to reduce energy poverty in the country also plays a role, the minister said.

"As we seek to transform India into a 5 trillion dollar economy, it is imperative to increase energy availability to 1.3 billion people, whose per capita energy consumption is lower than the global average. The energy demand, thus, is estimated to grow at 4.2 per cent per annum up to 2035," Pradhan continued.

He further stated that the government's approach is to re-energise India which will be guided by the Energy Vision of India, as enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"As part of our integrated approach towards energy planning, energy justice will also be a key objective in itself," he added.

"Our target to transform India to a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024 requires a gradual and a measured energy transition by deploying all sources of energy," Pradhan also said.

( With inputs from ANI )