Piyush Goyal says India will boost energy trade with the US

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India expects to increase its energy products trade with the US, adding that the country’s energy security goals will have a significant US involvement.

His comment comes at a time when India’s oil purchase from Russia has become a bone of contention with the US, leading to President Donald Trump imposing a 25 per cent retaliatory tariff on Indian goods, which, along with the earlier 25 per cent reciprocal tariff, has pushed the cumulative tariff rate to 50 per cent.

"Clearly, the world recognises that (energy security) is one area where we all have to work together. India is a big player in the energy field... we are big importers of energy from across the world, including from the US," Goyal said in New York on Tuesday.

The Union Minister made the remarks while delivering the keynote address at an event, 'Energy Security in a Shifting Global Landscape: Building Resilient Energy Markets Across Borders' hosted by the Consulate General of India in New York, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), and India's leading decarbonisation solutions provider, ReNew.

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‘India and US are natural partners’

Describing India and the US as “close friends” and “natural partners”, Goyal said that India’s energy security goals will have a “very high element of US involvement”, ensuring price stability, diversified sources of energy for India and help New Delhi unlock limitless possibilities with the US on various fronts, energy and beyond.

Goyal is leading a delegation for meetings in New York with the US side to achieve an early conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement.

Noting that September 22 is the commencement of Navratri, a very auspicious day of the Hindu calendar, he said it's said that on this day, "things are expected to turn for the better."

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Collaboration on nuclear power

Goyal said that India and the US can also work together with regard to nuclear power. "It's an area that we've been talking of for a long time. There were certain elements which needed to be set right. And I believe we are working in India to support private efforts on nuclear power,” he said.

"I think the best way forward for all of us is to ensure resilient critical mineral supplies, see how we can diversify our sources to ensure that trade is not weaponised. We have to work on creating infrastructure, particularly transmission grid infrastructure within countries and across borders, which can become the backbone of the clean energy transition for different nations,” added Goyal.

The Union Minister said that both countries need to work seriously to align their regulatory frameworks to see how this cross-border energy can be guaranteed without any concerns of geopolitics overtaking the energy resilience or energy security.

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India’s nuclear power goals

Goyal added that India continues to invest in nuclear power and looks to double "our nuclear power in the coming years through government intervention, but we do hope to take it on a much bigger scale. It does have challenges related to price and energy costs, which will need to be addressed. We'll have to make it more competitive,” he said.

He underlined that collectively today, India is in a “sweet spot” to expand its clean energy, and over the next five years, “we hope to grow from 250 gigawatt to 500 gigawatt.” Goyal referred to the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which, he said, has far-reaching implications.

(With agency inputs)