India imports over 85% of its crude oil and more than 50% of its natural gas, making energy dependence not just an economic concern but also a national security risk. 

• With global conflicts disrupting supply chains, every imported barrel becomes a liability. While discounted Russian oil has provided short-term relief, overreliance on one supplier creates fresh vulnerabilities. 
• Hence, India requires an energy sovereignty doctrine rooted in diversification, resilience, and domestic capacity.

India’s Energy Dependence Challenge

• In FY2023-24, India’s merchandise imports stood at $677 billion, with crude oil and natural gas alone accounting for $170 billion (25% of the total).
• This heavy energy import bill exerts pressure on the rupee, widens the trade deficit, and undermines macroeconomic stability.
• Russian oil now accounts for 35–40% of crude imports, compared to just 2% before 2022. This shift reduces cost but also creates a new concentration risk.
• Geopolitical tensions, such as the recent Israel-Iran standoff, highlight the fragility of global oil supply lines.

Global Flashpoints that Reshaped Energy Security

• 1973 Oil Embargo: The Arab oil embargo against the United States and allied nations caused crude prices to quadruple, and exposed the West’s overdependence on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). 
  • But it catalysed the creation of strategic petroleum reserves, efficiency mandates, and diversified sourcing strategies.
• 2011 Fukushima Disaster: A tsunami-induced nuclear meltdown in Japan triggered a global crisis of confidence in nuclear power. 
  • However, with emissions rising due to increased coal and gas use, nuclear energy is again regaining favour.
• 2021 Texas Freeze: Extreme cold froze gas pipelines and disabled wind turbines in energy-rich Texas. 
  • The event underscored the limits of systems built for cost efficiency rather than resilience and the importance of diversified and weather-hardened infrastructure.
• 2022 Russia-Ukraine War: Europe’s reliance on Russia for over 40% of its gas ended abruptly when Russia weaponised energy. 
  • The continent faced record liquefied natural gas prices and a coal revival. It was a stark lesson: no energy strategy is sovereign if it is single-sourced.
• 2025 Iberian Peninsula Blackout: Grid collapse in Spain and Portugal revealed the risks of overdependence on renewables without backup.

Energy Realism and Transition

• Despite global climate commitments, fossil fuels still meet over 80% of global primary energy demand, while solar and wind together contribute less than 10%.
• More than 90% of transport continues to run on hydrocarbons.
• Underinvestment in oil and gas exploration, despite high demand, has created a structurally tight supply vulnerable to shocks.
• Therefore, energy transition must be seen as a pathway rather than an abrupt switch, with security and sovereignty as the guiding principles.

India’s Five Pillars of Energy Sovereignty

• Coal Gasification and Indigenous Resources: India holds over 150 billion tonnes of coal reserves. By investing in gasification and carbon capture technologies, this resource can be used to produce syngas, methanol, hydrogen, and fertilizers. 
  • Overcoming the ash barrier through innovation will reduce dependence on imports.
• Biofuels for Rural Empowerment and Security: The ethanol blending programme has already reduced crude imports and transferred over ₹92,000 crore to farmers. 
  • With E20 blending, rural incomes will rise further. 
  • Through the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme, hundreds of compressed biogas (CBG) plants are generating clean fuel and producing bio-manure rich in 20%-25% organic carbon. 
    • This can restore North India’s degraded soils, where organic carbon has fallen to 0.5%, versus a healthy level of 2.5%. Improving soil health also enhances water and fertilizer retention, reducing runoff and pollution.
• Nuclear Energy as Zero-Carbon Baseload: India’s nuclear capacity has stagnated at 8.8 GW. 
  • Expanding this through thorium-based research, uranium partnerships, and Small Modular Reactors will provide a stable, dispatchable backbone for a renewable-heavy grid.
• Green Hydrogen for Technological Sovereignty: India targets 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030. 
  • This requires domestic manufacturing of electrolysers, catalysts, and storage systems. 
  • The objective is not just to produce green hydrogen but to secure the entire value chain.
• Pumped Hydro Storage for Grid Resilience: Pumped hydro is a proven method of energy storage that provides the grid inertia missing in renewable-dominant systems. 
  • India’s diverse topography offers significant potential for such projects, ensuring reliability during supply fluctuations.

Way Forward

• Deepen Diversification: India has already reduced its crude oil dependence on West Asia from over 60% to below 45% by diversifying suppliers. This marks a deliberate strategic shift. Going forward, India must deepen this diversification, build domestic capacity, and strengthen resilience across all energy sources.

Conclusion

Energy security is no longer just a climate issue; it is a survival strategy. India must lead with energy realism, blending ambition with pragmatism. 

• The future will not be owned by nations that discover new oil fields but by those that can secure, store, and sustain energy independently. 
• For India, uninterrupted, affordable, and indigenous energy is the true currency of sovereignty.

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