News

HFI were pleased to catch up with Mukund Puranik, Senior Partner, Singhania & Co this week as India Energy Week (IEW 2024) is underway in Goa, spotlighting India's pivotal role as the world's third-largest energy consumer. India is set to be the 3rd largest economy by 2030 (behind only the USA and China) and with its burgeoning 1.4 billion population, it will see the most significant surge in energy demand worldwide.

Investment levels in oil and gas projects in India highlight the opportunities:

Oil Exploration & Production - US$100 bn to be invested by 2030;
Refining & Petrochemicals - US$30 bn to be invested by 2030; and
US$67 bn new gas infrastructure including pipelines, LNG terminals, storage, compressed biogas plants and city gas distribution.

Investments in the energy transition also present unparalleled opportunities to contribute to the transformation of one of the world's most critical energy landscapes. India is set to invest US$25bn in renewable energy in 2023, with 35-40 GW to be added annually.

As India confronts the dual task of meeting soaring energy needs while curbing its carbon emissions, it introduced its "Panchamrit" initiative at COP 26, symbolising a fusion of five essential components:

• Increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030;
• Reduce the carbon intensity of India's economy by 45% by 2030;
• Meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030;
• Achieve net-zero by 2070; and
• Reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.

Mukund Puranik is HFI’s Specialist Legal Consultant for energy ventures in India, whether inward investment focused on local manufacturing and technology transfer or Indian companies looking to export to international markets and HFI looks forward to expanding our collaboration in 2024.