One area to help bridge the trade deficit is energy cooperation, particularly through increased purchases of oil and gas from the US. But buying oil and gas is tied to geopolitics because shifts in the market could allow India to purchase oil from Russia at a more competitive price…We are already importing 60%-70% of our energy requirements from abroad. And as a result of that it gives us some leeway to import from various countries. What is important is that we diversify those sources of importing. We don’t depend too much on any one market whether Russia or West Asia. I think what we found is that the US crude oil and LNG are both price-competitive and suit our refineries. There is scope to ramp up those imports, especially if there is possibility of second or third generation sanctions on Russia. In any case, even if we are importing from Russia, there could be scope to diversify.What could be Trump’s approach to India and the broader US-India relationship this time?He seems to have re-established his close connection with PM Modi, in a reminiscent of ‘Howdy Modi’ and ‘Namaste Trump’. His memories of India are very warm and positive. Trump remembers that fondly. We need to build on that goodwill by creating synergies between our economies, people-to-people contact in a manner that will take that relationship forward significantly.The Indo-US nuclear deal was a milestone, but it didn’t quite take off commercially. Now, with discussions around small modular reactors and recent legislative changes in India, do you believe nuclear commerce will gain momentum now?One of the reasons why the nuclear cooperation didn’t take off despite a special space being carved out for India is that the Nuclear Liability Act made it difficult for American investments to come into the civil nuclear energy sector. There is a commitment in the joint statement to amend that Act and make it suitable for foreign investors. It will bring in a range of American companies on advance nuclear reactors, small modular reactors, normal nuclear energy programmes. I think that’s the key considering that in our green energy mix, nuclear is going to be very important. You cannot run your grid based on solar and wind energy. You have to bring in nuclear energy.
Source link
