India's growing energy sector has become attractive for foreign investors: Pradhan

Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said that India's growing energy sector has become attractive for foreign investors.

Speaking at an event here, Pradhan said India received funding from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, long-term strategic investors from Western and Asian countries and the Middle East.

"The economy that is projected to grow at more than 7 per cent will attract more funding. Many companies have successfully raised funding through overseas bond market and this funding route is likely to grow manifold going forward," he said.

The union minister said that India's upstream sector is an important focus area of the government. Several transformative policy reforms have been undertaken to revitalize the E & P ecosystem and establish a conducive business environment, which would facilitate more investment and boost domestic oil and gas production, Pradhan said.

 

"The key policy reforms undertaken to augment the domestic oil and gas production include the policy of uniform licensing, marketing and pricing freedom to the operators, availability of comprehensive data to the investors to take informed decisions and fiscal incentives with the thrust on production enhancement," he added.

On the issue of energy landscape, the minister said that it is passing through a big change-making way for clean energy technologies.

"In a drive to provide energy access to all in a sustainable manner, our government has taken a big responsibility by making global commitment to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels," Pradhan said.

One of the main strategies India is planning to adopt towards achieving this goal is by having 40 per cent electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030," he added.

He said that the government is committed towards clean energy, which extends beyond just electricity.

"More than 75 million LPG connections have been provided under the Ujjwala Yojana so far, which has resulted in enhancing the LPG penetration in India to around 95 per cent as against 56 per cent in May 2014. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has saved millions of women and children from the health hazards of smoky kitchens," the minister remarked.

Appreciating the oil and gas companies for investing in developing renewable energy projects for self-consumption and for supplying to the grid, Pradhan said that oil marketing companies are providing soft loans and subsidies to petrol pump dealers to install solar rooftops.

Speaking on the bio-diesel programme, the minister said, "I am confident that we will soon be rolling out initiatives to enable achievement of 5 per cent biodiesel blended diesel across country."

"We will promote electric vehicles, but it will be holistic and integrated planning, where I have mentioned in my recent statements that all forms of transportation, which are clean and affordable, will be considered in our energy policy," Pradhan further said.