Speaking at Public Affairs Forum of India’s 10th Annual Forum 2023 in New Delhi on Thursday, he said India will be doing 20% ethanol blending by 2025. India and the US can work together on the plan to make ethanol from agricultural waste.
“We are facing challenges on the energy front and we are working towards affordability, availability and sustainability. Green hydrogen, which is the fuel of the future, will succeed because India and the US individually will go after that,” he said.
Looking at American diplomat Atul Keshyap present at the discussion, Puri jokingly said, “ I wish we had the kind of money that you have. What you (the US) have put into the Inflation Reduction- $400 billion (to cut emissions and accelerate clean energy deployment). Some Indian companies can also participate (in green hydrogen initiatives) that but I think India US potential is the best distributor here,” he said.
He also mentioned that while there is a little bit of asymmetry between the countries as the US is a $26 trillion economy, India is aspiring to reach there as well.
The minister said that India will be a 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030, but 50% of our GDP is in the external sector, which is the value of goods and services imported and exported and the value of remittances. This not only brings in the businesses from the US but from many other countries. There are many entrepreneurs who want to come to India. He also lauded India’s metro connectivity system saying that we went from 242 km operational metro in 2002 to 895 km today.“In 1.5-2 years, our metro system will be the second-largest in the world, larger than the United States’ metro system,” he added.
