- India
- Aug 01
- Sreesha V.M
What is Samudra Manthan scheme?
• The Union Cabinet approved ‘Samudra Manthan’ — the National Offshore Exploration Scheme on July 31.
• The scheme was first outlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address in 2025, when he called for a modern-day ‘Samudra Manthan’ to unlock India's offshore energy resources.
Significance of the scheme
• India’s reliance on imported crude oil, the key raw material used to produce fuels such as petrol and diesel, has increased over the past decade from 77 per cent to 88 per cent.
• The country also imports around half of its natural gas requirements, which is used in sectors including fertiliser production, power generation, compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles and piped cooking gas supplies to households.
• The recent conflict in West Asia, which disrupted energy supplies, highlighted the vulnerability of import-dependent economies and renewed focus on strengthening domestic production capacity.
• The scheme will fund projects of finding oil and gas in deepwater areas, drilling exploratory wells and building common infrastructure to bring new discoveries into production.
• The scheme aims to unlock India’s vast offshore energy potential.
• It marks a landmark step towards strengthening India’s energy security, accelerating domestic exploration and production, and promoting technological leadership.
• The scheme encompasses a comprehensive set of interventions across the offshore exploration value chain.
Samudra Manthan is expected to:
i) Catalyse reserve accretion of over 600 Million Metric Tonnes of Oil Equivalent (MMTOE).
ii) Substantially increase offshore exploration activity.
iii) Promote higher domestic oil and gas production.
iv) Generate large-scale employment.
v) Strengthen indigenous manufacturing under Make in India.
vi) Foster a globally competitive ecosystem for offshore technologies and services.
• The scheme is also expected to stimulate significant investments across the exploration and production value chain, creating long-term opportunities for industry, innovation and economic growth.
The scheme provides for:
i) Large-scale acquisition, processing and interpretation of high-quality seismic data.
ii) Accelerated deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploratory drilling.
iii) Scientific drilling in frontier basins.
iv) Development of common offshore production and evacuation infrastructure.
v) Establishment of an integrated oil & gas manufacturing and services zone.
• It also includes dedicated provisions for digital programme management, capacity building, technology adoption, stakeholder engagement and international outreach, creating an integrated ecosystem to accelerate offshore exploration and production in the country.
(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)