Description
India’s rapid economic growth is highly dependent on stable access to energy supplies. With increasing growth in the consumption of fossil fuels, India’s dependence on imports of oil and hydrocarbons in general would increase substantially in the future which is 37.5 percent of our total imports already, making India search for energy security. Foreign policy therefore has a critical role in ensuring energy security for India. Energy security has, as a result, become a vital factor in Indian foreign policy. However, despite India’s ongoing initiatives to secure its increasing energy requirements from all over globe through its policy of diversification, West Asia remains the main source of India’s imports providing more than 65 percent of our total imports thereby making energy an important factor in India-West Asia relationship. Since the end of the Cold War India’s policy towards West Asia has been governed more by economic and energy considerations and less by the political rhetoric of the past. This paper analyzes India’s interests, challenges, and actual energy security policies towards the region and also attempts to study how far India’s Quest for Energy Security drives India’s West Asia policy.
India’s quest for energy security and its West Asia policy
India’s rapid economic growth is highly dependent on stable access to energy supplies. With increasing growth in the consumption of fossil fuels, India’s dependence on imports of oil and hydrocarbons in general would increase substantially in the future which is 37.5 percent of our total imports already, making India search for energy security. Foreign policy therefore has a critical role in ensuring energy security for India. Energy security has, as a result, become a vital factor in Indian foreign policy. However, despite India’s ongoing initiatives to secure its increasing energy requirements from all over globe through its policy of diversification, West Asia remains the main source of India’s imports providing more than 65 percent of our total imports thereby making energy an important factor in India-West Asia relationship. Since the end of the Cold War India’s policy towards West Asia has been governed more by economic and energy considerations and less by the political rhetoric of the past. This paper analyzes India’s interests, challenges, and actual energy security policies towards the region and also attempts to study how far India’s Quest for Energy Security drives India’s West Asia policy.