Arun Kumar Singh, chairman and chief executive of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), said India must raise domestic oil and gas production and strengthen innovation to reduce heavy import dependence. He spoke at the MC²? Ignite Mumbai City Connect at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and linked energy self-reliance to the wider aim of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. He said energy autonomy is essential for strategic resilience.

Singh noted India currently imports about 88 per cent of its oil requirement and 50 per cent of its gas requirement, making higher domestic output critical to national security and economic stability. He said technological advances will be important for finding large oil and gas reserves and for improving recovery from existing fields. He added that the sector must adopt new tools and methods to boost supply.

He pointed out that only zero point two per cent of the startup ecosystem works in oil and gas and around two per cent operates in energy more broadly, and he urged far greater participation. Singh said public sector energy companies have pooled resources under the MC²? initiative to identify priority areas and to attract startups and young innovators for technological solutions. The programme, organised by ONGC with the MC²? Foundation at IIT Bombay, will support up to 30 early-stage energy startups.

Selected startups can receive up to Rs 5 mn in convertible funding and a further Rs 15 mn in milestone-based funding, taking potential support to Rs 20 mn per startup, the company said. The event also saw a tripartite memorandum of understanding between the MC²? Foundation, IIT Bombay and the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIT Bombay to back research, pilots and commercial deployment of energy technologies. Institute of Chemical Technology Mumbai vice-chancellor Aniruddha B Pandit urged changes to procurement rules of oil public sector undertakings to ease market access for new technologies and described the registration requirement as a catch-22 that hinders innovation.