Puri at SRCC Conclave: Samudra Manthan Outlay Rs 84,084 Crore

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri gave the valedictory address at the national conference 'Pathways to Viksit Bharat: A Centenary Conclave' on 16 October 2026. The two-day meet was hosted by Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) of the University of Delhi at the Stein Auditorium of the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, and marked the college's centenary year. Faculty members, economists, policymakers and students attended.

Samudra Manthan Scheme

The Minister pointed to the Samudra Manthan Scheme, also called the National Offshore Exploration Scheme, which the Union Government has cleared with an outlay of Rs 84,084 crore. The scheme is meant to open up the country's offshore hydrocarbon reserves and harden energy security. Four thrust areas carry it: quicker exploration, the use of modern technology, shared infrastructure for operators, and a stronger domestic manufacturing base.

Waste to Wealth

He also recalled the GOBARdhan scheme, launched on 1 October, and tied it to the Prime Minister's twin ideas of 'Waste to Wealth' and 'Annadata to Urjadata', which casts the food-giver as an energy-giver. Crop residue and organic waste, he argued, can be turned into fuel at home: that pays the farmer, earns a commercial return and shores up the country's energy security.

Fuel supply held steady

On global shocks, the Minister said India kept essential fuel flowing through the recent crises in West Asia by widening the set of countries it buys from and by building up capacity at home.

Message to students

Quoting the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, Puri said a university exists to join imagination with experience, and that an institution which sustains that exchange keeps renewing its intellectual life. He asked students of commerce and economics to question settled assumptions and to turn difficulties in energy, finance and logistics into working enterprises. Echoing the Prime Minister's own recent visit to SRCC, he asked why Indian firms should not lead the world when Indians already head several of the largest global corporations, and said the youth now entering their working years would carry the country to developed-nation status by 2047.