India's Path to Energy Independence: A Roadmap for the Future

India's energy landscape is changing fast. With the country's population projected to reach 1.4 billion by 2047, the demand for energy is skyrocketing. However, the current energy infrastructure is struggling to keep up. Sagar Adani, Executive at the Adani Group, recently spoke at the Economist's Resilient Futures Summit in New Delhi, where he highlighted the need for India to electrify everything.
Adani pointed out that India's energy consumption is alarmingly low compared to the global average. With per-capita energy use at about one-third of the global average and roughly one-fifth of China's, India has a long way to go to catch up. To become a developed economy by 2047, India would need to add nearly 2,000 gigawatts of new capacity over the next two decades, while keeping energy affordable and increasingly clean.
The International Energy Agency has predicted that India will be the largest source of global energy-demand growth through 2035. As urbanisation and rising incomes push consumption sharply higher, what India builds and how fast it electrifies will shape global energy markets for years to come.
Renewables are crucial for India's energy future, but Adani believes that the country also needs a broader mix of energy sources, including hydro, efficient thermal power, and nuclear, to ensure firm supply when conditions are not ideal. With the Adani Group committing over $100 billion to the energy transition, Adani is focused on execution at scale, integrating renewables, storage, transmission, and green hydrogen into a seamless energy system.
Adani's vision for India's energy future is not just about economic growth; it's also about geopolitical stability. By building abundant, affordable, and cleaner power fast enough, India can protect its citizens from external shocks and add stability to a global economy that increasingly depends on its growth.