New Delhi: India will account for a quarter of global energy demand growth by 2040 as booming manufacturing and a bigger, richer and more-urbanized population set the nation on the path of sustained and rapid expansion, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.
The country’s oil demand is expected to reach 10 million barrels a day in the next quarter of a century, marking the fastest growth in the world, the Paris-based agency said in a report released on Tuesday. Last month the IEA forecast that India would consume almost 4 million barrels a day this year.
The use of coal, the mainstay of the country’s power generation, will also increase as cities add about 315 million people, it said in the report. India, home to a sixth of the world’s population, accounts for only 6% of global energy use at present; one in five Indians are yet to gain access to electricity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pledged to bridge that divide, promising to light up every household by 2019. The nation plans a record increase in coal production as it builds new cities and has embarked on an unprecedented $200 billion plan to generate renewable energy.