Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday highlighted how almost all of India’s coastal waters have been opened up for exploration with the aim of discovering new mineral reserves.
Saying that a previously ‘flawed’ mindset had stopped exploration of our seas, PM Modi said that previously ‘no-go areas’ have been changed to ‘go-ahead areas’.
This was a poverty of thought. We decided that this could not continue. That is the pace of progress; that is the scale of expansion.
“In these 12 years, we have expanded that reach to 700 cities. Prior to 2014, piped gas reached barely 20 to 22 lakh households; today, we are delivering piped gas to 1.75 crore households,” PM Modi said.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort in New Delhi on the 80th Independence Day , PM Modi said, due to a flawed mindset, we had designated 99 percent of our coastal waters as “no-go areas,” effectively deciding against offshore exploration. PM Modi hailed how a majority of India’s coastal waters have been opened up for exploration under the “Samrudhha Manthan” initiative. “We have now opened up those areas–previously off-limits–as “go-ahead areas,” and we are actively pursuing exploration and the discovery of new reserves beneath the sea. Last year, we announced the “Samudra Manthan” initiative to advance this effort, and recently, we decided to accelerate the work by allocating ₹ 85,000 crore for this purpose,” the Prime Minister said.
Deepwater and ultra-deepwater basins are sea zones with very high-water depth. To accelerate this effort, Samudra Manthan – the National Offshore Exploration Scheme has been approved on 31 July 2026. With a Phase-I outlay of ₹ 84,084 crore up to FY 2030-31, it aims to boost the hydrocarbon exploration and production sector, according to the Central Government. India’s eastern and western offshore basins extend to water depths of up to 3,000 metres. They are estimated to hold over 5,600 MMTOE (Million Metric Tonnes of Oil Equivalent) of hydrocarbon potential. Earlier reporting noted: India has set a target of having 200 gigawatts of nuclear energy and setting up five nuclear reactors in the country, PM Modi said.
Much of India’s future oil and gas potential lies offshore, according to the Central government. Earlier reporting noted: Fragile 5 no more, eyes on 100 GW nuclear energy target: Key numbers by PM Modi from Red Fort Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of the 80th Independence Day, said on Saturday that the world had placed India among the “fragile five” economies and that people’s efforts had helped the country move from the “fragile five” to a major economy over the past 12 years. Earlier reporting noted: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the nation from the Red Fort on the 80th Independence Day, said that energy security is the “need of the hour” and that his government has taken several steps to achieve it.
