Beyond barrels: India and Russia build a new energy playbook

AS INDIA hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and Friday for the 23rd annual India-Russia Summit, the discourse is moving beyond old practices in the energy industry.

- MANISH VAID

Rising demand for clean power and secure supply chains is pushing the bilateral relationship into a new era, one based on civil nuclear cooperation, industry localisation, critical mineral supply chains, and modern connectivity corridors.

India’s energy demand curve continues to climb. According to recent forecasts, India will drive a significant share of global energy demand growth in the coming decade. Meanwhile, India’s electricity landscape has changed a lot because of the shift to renewable energy, mainly solar and wind.

As of late 2025, India’s total installed electricity capacity has surpassed SOOGW, with more than 51% of that capacity coming from non-fossil.

The shift towards clean power is visible in actual generation, too. Over the first half of 2025, utilities produced a record 236 terawatt hours (TWh) of clean electricity, largely thanks to solar and wind gains, plus growing output from hydro and nuclear.

Yet renewables alone cannot meet India’s needs, especially baseload and industrial demand. Nuclear remains indispensable, reflected in India’s ambition to scale capacity tol0OGW by 2047. In this context, the India-Russia civil nuclear partnership has renewed strategic value.

For India, this partnership means energy security, a stable, low-carbon supply, and rapid decarbonization. It also supports India’s shift toward mineral sovereignty, as breaking dependence on China for rare-earth becomes central to EV, battery, and clean-tech manufacturing. The recent approval of a $815.7 million rare-earth permanent-magnet manufacturing programme underscores this intent, boosting domestic value addition and industrial strength.

Clean-energy technologies, including wind turbines, EVs, battery storage, grid infrastructure and even nuclear plant components, are mineral-intensive.