Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal took to Twitter on Tuesday, March 14, to state that renewable energy alone cannot meet India's growing needs and the country should look at exploring the oil and gas sector domestically to secure its energy future.

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He said that instead of focusing on oil and gas imports if India increased domestic exploration and production, it will create more jobs and help eradicate poverty.

India currently spends $122 billion on oil and gas imports, which make up 90% of our needs. By increasing our domestic exploration and production, we will create jobs and help eradicate poverty (2/3)

— Anil Agarwal (@AnilAgarwal_Ved) March 14, 2023

"With 75 percent of our oil reserves still unexplored, India can unlock its true potential with the help of global companies. They have cash reserves worth $3 trillion and are looking for investment opportunities," he said in another tweet.

Elaborating more on his tweets, Agarwal in his article for The Hindu Businessline wrote that the emphasis on oil and gas is still necessary and the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war has put this in the spotlight as well.

Agarwal said the oil demand in India will rise to over 7 million barrels per day by 2030 and by 2040 it would reach almost 10 million barrels per day, from the present 5 million bpd.

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"The share of oil and gas in India's total energy mix is likely to fall below 50 percent only in 2050," he wrote, adding that in such a scenario India cannot afford to remain almost 90 percent dependent on imports for hydrocarbons.

In his article, he emphasised how it is a tremendous opportunity for investors in India's under-explored hydrocarbon potential. "India also has massive potential to produce sulphur-free crude oil and gas that is much better for the environment," he wrote.

World leaders have been talking about combatting climate change at all the important summits, meetings such as COP, World Economic Forum, and G20, among others and green energy transition has been an important point of discussion. India too is focusing on the same, with Rs 35,000 crore being allocated to green energy transition in this year's Budget. However, as India focuses on transitioning to green energy, it is important that the demand for the same is also created, to turn ambition into reality.

On another note, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who was in India recently, also spoke of how climate change cannot be dealt with at the cost of not striving towards a better lifestyle. "I don't think we can count on people living an impoverished lifestyle as a solution to climate change," he had said.

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