Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday that his government imported over 85 percent of oil and 53 percent of gas to meet domestic demand in the 2019-2020 (April 2019-March 2020) fiscal year.
Modi gave the figures while laying the foundation stone of various key projects of the oil and gas sector in the southern state of Tamil Nadu via video conferencing.
"Had we focused on these projects much earlier our middle class would not be burdened. Now, it is our collective duty to work towards clean and green sources of energy, reduce energy dependence," he said.
Modi said his government was increasing the focus on ethanol to help farmers and consumers.
"There is a focus on furthering usage of solar power to become a leader in the sector. Public transport is being encouraged and alternative sources like LED Bulbs are being embraced to enable huge savings for middle class households," he said.
Modi said while India is working to meet the growing energy demand, it was also reducing energy import dependence and diversifying import sources.
"For this capacity is being built. In 2019-20, India was fourth in the world in refining capacity. About 65.2 million tonnes of petroleum products have been exported. This number is expected to rise even further," he said.
Editor: Galia
