India’s Energy Policy and Cooperation with Russia

Abstract

The relatively high growth rates of GDP and real incomes of the population compared to other Asian countries, combined with the ongoing policy of industrialization and urbanization, make India one of the most attractive markets for commodities. At the same time, India is characterized by extremely low levels of motorization and per capita consumption of many goods and services, including plastic products, which determines the potential for growth in consumption of primary energy sources.

Due to the progressive increase in per capita GDP in India, the poverty level is decreasing, stimulating an increase in the number of relatively well-off citizens and, as a result, the consumption of electricity, petroleum products and other energy sources.

However, due to the small reserves of fossil resources, India is in dire need of them, mainly oil and gas. Among the key areas of its economy are the oil and gas production and oil and gas processing industries.

The subject of the study is India’s energy policy, in particular its oil and gas market. The aim of the work is to establish prospects for cooperation between Russia and India due to the fact that the latter is a fast–growing economy and is an expanding market for fossil fuels for the needs of households and industry. The article identifies the peculiarities of the development of the fuel and energy sector of India, and establishes its energy needs. India’s energy policy has been reviewed in the light of the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement, its oil and gas reserves have been identified and directions for possible diversification of their supplies have been predicted.

It is concluded that due to the sanctions imposed on Russian companies and the need to diversify the supply of natural resources, foreign economic cooperation with India is of particular interest to Russia.