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Deep dive · Energy ⚡

Can India power itself?

This is the dependency that shadows every other page. India imports about 87% of its oil and 56% of its gas — the deepest single hold any outsider has over it. But energy is also the one gap with a clear, home-grown exit: sun, wind, ethanol and hydrogen. The twist is that even the clean escape still runs, for now, on imported solar cells.

The energy mix

Where India's power comes from

01

Crude oil — the biggest bill1,2

~87% imported

India's single deepest dependency. Nearly nine of every ten barrels arrive by ship — about a third now from Russia, the rest from Iraq and the Gulf.

02

Natural gas & LNG3

~56% imported

More than half of India's gas is imported as LNG, with suppliers shifting between the US, Qatar and others as prices and politics move.

03

Coal & thermal power4

Coal home · coking imported

India sits on vast domestic thermal coal and generates most of its electricity from it — but still imports ~90% of the coking coal that steelmaking needs.

04

Renewables — the way out5,6

Rising · cells imported

India is racing toward 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 and is among the world's largest solar builders. The catch: many of the solar cells still come from China — a domestic-cell rule now aims to change that.

05

Ethanol & green hydrogen — the future7,8

Home-grown, early

India hit 20% ethanol blending (E20) ahead of schedule — home-grown fuel that directly cuts oil imports — and has launched a National Green Hydrogen Mission, though hydrogen is still at an early stage.

The deepest lever — and the way out

Whoever fuels India, holds India. So India is learning to fuel itself.

Oil and gas are the levers that touch everything — transport, fertiliser, factories, even air quality.1,3 The escape is entirely domestic: sunlight, wind, sugarcane ethanol and, in time, green hydrogen.5,7 The final knot to cut is manufacturing the clean-tech itself — solar cells and batteries — at home rather than importing them from China.6 Win that, and India's oldest dependency becomes its newest strength.

The verdict

On today's fuels, India is deeply dependent — energy is the single biggest reason it can be pressured. On tomorrow's, the trajectory is genuinely hopeful: record renewable additions, E20 ethanol achieved, a hydrogen mission launched. The decisive battle is making the panels, cells and batteries in India. That is where energy independence is actually won.

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Sources & notes
  1. 1.PRS India — Petroleum Demand for Grants 2025-26 (crude-oil import dependence ~87%)
  2. 2.Statista — India's top suppliers of crude oil (Russia ~35%)
  3. 3.Asianet Newsable — India's natural-gas import dependence at ~56% (LNG)
  4. 4.EY-Parthenon — India imports ~90% of coking coal (though it has large domestic thermal coal)
  5. 5.PIB — India's target of 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030 (adding ~50 GW/year)
  6. 6.Down To Earth — India's solar surge still depends on Chinese cells (~$3.9bn imported from China in FY24); ALMM domestic-cell rule from June 2026
  7. 7.PIB — India reaches 20% ethanol blending (E20), ahead of schedule, cutting oil imports
  8. 8.MNRE — National Green Hydrogen Mission (target ~5 MMT/year by 2030)

Figures are directional and drawn from public reporting; they indicate scale, not audited accounts, and shift year to year.