At the India Energy Week 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the gathering at Yashobhoomi via a video message, setting the tone for an event of profound importance.

Modi began by underscoring India’s ambitious role in the global landscape, noting how experts worldwide are now asserting that the 21st century belongs to India. “India is driving not only its growth but also the growth of the world,” he remarked, highlighting the energy sector as a key contributor to this trajectory.

He broke down India’s energy ambitions into five foundational pillars: leveraging its abundant resources, fostering innovation, bolstering economic strength and political stability, utilizing its strategic geographical position to facilitate energy trade, and reinforcing its commitment to global sustainability.

The Prime Minister further pointed to the next two decades as a critical period for India’s development, with many key milestones on the horizon. The country’s energy goals, many of which are set for 2030, include adding 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, achieving net-zero carbon emissions for Indian Railways, and producing five million metric tons of green hydrogen annually.

He shared the remarkable leap in India’s solar energy generation capacity, which had grown 32-fold over the last decade, positioning India as the third-largest solar power producer in the world. Additionally, he emphasised that India had tripled its non-fossil fuel energy capacity and become the first G20 country to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

One of the Prime Minister’s proudest achievements was India’s ethanol blending initiative. With a current blending rate of 19%, India has saved foreign exchange, boosted farmer incomes, and significantly reduced CO2 emissions. He reiterated the ambitious goal of reaching a 20% ethanol mandate by October 2025, a testament to the rapid growth of the nation’s biofuels industry. Modi also noted that during India’s G20 presidency, the Global Biofuels Alliance had been established and was steadily expanding, currently involving 28 nations and 12 international organisations.

Recent discoveries and a vast expansion in gas infrastructure, stressing that these efforts were driving the growth of natural gas within India’s energy mix. The nation, he noted, is now the fourth-largest refining hub in the world and aims to increase its refining capacity by 20%. To encourage more exploration, the government had introduced the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), which opens up India’s upstream oil and gas sector to greater opportunities for investors.

He went on to emphasise the government’s commitment to developing India’s local manufacturing sector, with a strong focus on supporting the production of solar PV modules and promoting the “Make in India” initiative. The solar PV module manufacturing capacity, he pointed out, had soared from 2 gigawatts to around 70 gigawatts in just ten years, thanks in part to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which has attracted investment and innovation.

In his address, the Prime Minister highlighted the significance of the battery and storage sector, noting India’s rapid strides toward electric mobility. With the inclusion of various critical minerals in the budget, including cobalt powder and lithium-ion battery waste, India is setting the stage for a robust supply chain. The introduction of the National Critical Minerals Mission and the promotion of non-lithium battery ecosystems were key steps in solidifying this strategy.

Modi concluded his remarks by emphasising the role of ordinary citizens in strengthening India’s energy sector. Through initiatives like the PM Suryagarh Free Electricity Scheme, farmers and families have not only become energy consumers but also energy providers, creating new skills and job opportunities in the solar sector.