Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said India’s rapid economic growth is deeply linked to the expansion of its energy and shipping sectors, describing them as critical foundations for national development.
Addressing a session during India Maritime Week 2025 in New Delhi, Puri said India’s GDP has reached approximately $4.3 trillion, with nearly half driven by external trade—including exports, imports, and remittances, highlighting the central role of maritime activity in the nation’s progress.
He said India currently consumes around 5.6 million barrels of crude oil daily, up from 5 million barrels four and a half years ago, and is likely to soon reach 6 million barrels per day. Citing the International Energy Agency (IEA), Puri noted that India is expected to contribute almost 30 per cent of the global rise in energy demand over the next two decades, up from an earlier projection of 25 per cent. This, he said, underscores the growing importance of shipping for transporting oil, gas, and other energy resources.
During 2024–25, India imported about 300 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude and petroleum products while exporting roughly 65 MMT. The oil and gas industry, Puri said, constitutes around 28 per cent of India’s total trade volume, making it the largest single category handled by the nation’s ports.
He added that India currently meets 88 per cent of its crude oil and 51 per cent of its gas requirements through imports, reinforcing the vital link between shipping and energy security. Freight costs, he explained, account for a major portion of import expenses, about $5 per barrel from the United States and $1.2 from the Middle East. Over the past five years, state-run oil companies such as Indian Oil, BPCL, and HPCL have spent nearly $8 billion on chartering ships, an amount that could have financed an entire fleet of Indian-owned tankers.
Currently, only about 20 per cent of India’s trade cargo is transported on Indian-flagged or Indian-owned vessels, which Puri described as both a challenge and an opportunity. To address this, he said the government is pursuing measures such as aggregating public sector cargo demand to provide long-term charters to Indian carriers, advancing the Ship Owning and Leasing model, creating a Maritime Development Fund to offer affordable vessel financing, and implementing the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy 2.0 with enhanced support for LNG, ethane, and product tankers.
Highlighting the sector’s progress under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Puri said India’s port capacity has nearly doubled—from 872 MMT per annum in 2014 to 1,681 MMT today, while cargo handling has increased from 581 MMT to about 855 MMT.
He concluded by noting that India views its oceans as “pathways to growth and prosperity,” adding that the nation is modernising ports, expanding shipbuilding, promoting green shipping initiatives, and creating employment opportunities for youth. India, he said, is prepared to collaborate with global partners to make the maritime and energy sectors central drivers of a developed, self-reliant Bharat.
