Inaugurating the Petrotech 2019 on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that, in a fast growing economy like India, people must have a universal access to clean, affordable, sustainable and equitable supply of energy.
In the inaugural session of Petrotech 2019, "Several decades of public life have convinced me that energy is a key driver of socio-economic growth," he said.
"In the world we are the third largest energy consumer with demand, growing at more than 5 percent annually. India remains an attractive market for energy companies with energy demand expected to be more than double by 2040.”
"At the macro level, the energy sector is a pivot and a key enabler of growth at the macro level. Natural gas is fast becoming one of the largest fuels in global energy mix. Nations are coming together to tackle climate change. We are entering an era of greater energy availability,” he said.
“Electricity has reached all our rural areas. This year, we aim to achieve 100 percent electrification of households through a targeted programme. LED bulbs distributed across the country under the Ujala scheme resulted in savings of nearly 2.5 billion dollars," he said.
The prime minister said that access to clean fuel provides major benefits, especially to women and children who are at risk of exposure to smoke pollution." LPG connections have been given to over 64 million households in just under three years as part of Ujala scheme.”
Moving towards a responsible pricing mechanism will balance the need of both producers and consumers, said Modi.