“India today on the energy front presents the picture of confidence of positive growth of solutions in many areas.India Energy Week (IEW) represents a golden opportunity toshowcase these developments on the energy front and provide the platform for further development and growth in the energy sector.”, said Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing &Urban Affairs.

Briefing the media about the important features of 2^nd Edition of India Energy Week, being organised in Goa from 6^th February to 9^th February 2024, the Minister said that India Energy Week 24 is expected to witness 17 Energy ministers from different countries, 35,000+ attendees, more than 900 exhibitors. “I am pleased to share that this time we will have dedicated 6 country pavilions namely Canada, Germany Netherlands, Russia, UK and USA”, he added.

The Minister said that during IEW 2024, a special Make in India Pavilion is being organized with more than 300 exhibitors to showcase innovative solutions Indian MSMEs are spearheading in the energy sector. He said, with the number of domestic and international participants this gives them an unparalleled platform to demonstrate their abilities to both domestic and international markets.

Highlighting the increase in scale of the event as compared to first edition, the Minister noted that the number of exhibitors for this IEW 24’ is expected to be more than 900 (30% growth). There is 25% increase in exhibition area (IEW’24 – 18.5k sqm and IEW’23 15k sqm) resulting in  46% increase in revenue from exhibition, he said.

The IEW is just one year old, and the enthusiasm that we see including from international sponsors is very encouraging, the Minister said.

Noting the significant rise in private sponsorship, Shri Puri informed that there has been 81% increase in total revenue from private firms and a 44% increase in number of private sponsors (IEW’24 – 13 and IEW’23 – 9) resulting in more than 3 times private sponsorship revenue than last year.

Building on the incredible success of 1^st edition of IEW, the Minister noted that the duration and the number of strategic sessions of IEW’24 have increased from 3 to 4 days. 44% more sessions planned in IEW’24 (Forecasted) including 46 strategic sessions and 46 technical sessions which is more than double the technical sessions in IEW’23, he said.

Under the technical sessions, Shri Purinoted that the number of submission papers received has doubled from 1000 for IEW 2023 to 2000 for IEW 2024.

“Four new technical categories have been added including Shipping, Logistic & Supply Chain, Manufacturing & Industrialization, Future Mobility and Mining & Minerals in line with domestic priorities”, noted the Minister.

The Minister spoke about Avinya, an Energy startup challenge organized by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, for startups from the energy sector. From the approximate 120 applications received after a tiered selection process, 5 startups were selected, he said. The winners of the startup challenge will be provided inter-alia mentorship opportunities by Industry leaders, and an opportunity to exhibit their startup ideas at India Energy Week’24 showcasing their cutting-edge solutions to a global audience.

The Petroleum Minister said that building on our G20 priorities, various number of side events are being planned on the sidelines of IEW covering important themes like Global South Cooperation, Carbon Capture and Utilisation and PM’s roundtable with Oil & Gas CEOs, India-US investment roundtables etc. The event also features an Increased focus across energy value chain, including 3 sessions on Biofuels, 3 sessions on Hydrogen and 2 sessions in CCUS, he said.

Speaking at the event, the Minister also talked about the importance of biofuels, green Hydrogen especially in context of growth of country’s economy in coming years. He said that today the country’s GDP is over 4trillion, and by end of fiscal year 2025, we should be a 5 trillion economy. Growing economy consumes more energy and that energy is also witnessing a shift towards sustainable energy, he said.

RKJ/M