New Delhi, India — Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shaktikanta Das, on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, underscored India's urgent need to curtail its reliance on imported oil and gas. Speaking at the launch of the India and the Emerging Economic Order Forum (IEOF), Das highlighted the government's ambitious Samudra Manthan scheme as a cornerstone of efforts to bolster domestic hydrocarbon exploration and production.
Das noted that India remains "highly dependent on imported oil and gas," making the reduction of this import dependence a national priority. He detailed the Samudra Manthan, or National Offshore Exploration Scheme, which received Union Cabinet approval in July 2026. This initiative is backed by a substantial Phase 1 outlay of ₹84,084 crore, earmarked to span until the financial year 2030-31.
Accelerating Deep-Sea Exploration
The Samudra Manthan scheme is specifically designed to accelerate exploration and production activities in India's deep-sea and ultra-deep-sea regions. Its primary goals include strengthening the country's domestic hydrocarbon output and significantly reducing its dependence on imported energy resources. The government projects that this extensive program will catalyze a reserve accretion of more than 600 million tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas.
Das presented Samudra Manthan as one of three key reform areas from which the Global South could draw valuable lessons. The other two sectors he highlighted were India's burgeoning space sector and its expanding nuclear energy program.
Reforms in Space and Nuclear Energy
- Space Sector: Das pointed to the Space Policy 2023, which has effectively opened the entire space value chain to private participation, fostering innovation and attracting investment. This includes areas such as satellite manufacturing, launch services, and various downstream applications. He also referenced the successful launch of Vikram-1, India’s first privately developed orbital rocket, as a testament to these reforms.
- Nuclear Energy: In the nuclear domain, Das reiterated India's target of achieving 100 GW of nuclear power generation capacity by 2047. This objective is part of a broader strategy to integrate more nuclear energy into the nation's power mix and support its net-zero emissions target for 2070. He specifically mentioned the first criticality of the indigenously designed prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, which occurred in April 2026.
Beyond these specific initiatives, Das outlined India's overarching economic strategy, which is centered on maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability, implementing structural reforms, fostering infrastructure creation, promoting industrial development, and achieving greater global economic integration.
He reported robust economic performance, with India recording an average annual real GDP growth of 7.9% between 2021-22 and 2025-26. The economy continued its strong trajectory, growing by 7.8% in the first quarter of the current financial year. Das concluded by suggesting that India's experiences in critical sectors like energy, space, and nuclear power could offer valuable insights for other nations in the Global South, especially amidst ongoing geopolitical tensions, trade-policy uncertainties, and volatile energy prices.