By Sadananda Mohapatra, Senior Business Journalist
Lead Story: The Looming Energy Squeeze — Why New Delhi is Sounding the Alarm
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to Indians to cut fuel consumption, pause gold purchases and avoid foreign travel sent a signal that no government press release had managed to convey: the West Asia crisis is hitting India harder than official statements suggest. By Monday afternoon, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas reinforced that message, issuing a formal appeal asking citizens to use public transport, carpool, prioritise railways for goods movement and shift to electric vehicles wherever possible. The government’s tone has visibly shifted from “supplies are adequate” to “please use less.”
The economic numbers explain why. Despite a 17% drop in crude import volumes in March 2026, India’s net import bill shrank by only 2.6% because the Indian crude basket price surged 56% to USD 113.49 per barrel. India’s three state-run fuel retailers are estimated to be losing approximately Rs 1,600 crore to Rs 1,700 crore every single day by absorbing that price increase rather than passing it to consumers. Foreign exchange reserves have fallen from an all-time high of USD 728 billion in February to approximately USD 690 billion by May 1, a drain of nearly USD 38 billion in ten weeks. The rupee touched 95.33 against the dollar on April 30, its weakest level in years.
There is a political dimension to the timing as well. The government’s cautious approach through the crisis period coincided with state elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and other states. With polling now concluded, industry sources suggest a modest petrol and diesel price increase of Rs 4 to Rs 5 per litre may arrive before May 15, ending a long-standing retail price freeze. New Delhi’s public conservation appeal appears designed to soften that blow, managing demand and public expectations before prices move.
The cylinders may be available. The bill for keeping them affordable is what worries New Delhi.
Joules Capsule: Weekly Round-Up
Google Becomes a Power Utility in India
Google has secured an electricity distribution licence for its Visakhapatnam data centre hub in Andhra Pradesh, making it the first technology company to become a regulated power utility in India. The move means Google is no longer just a customer of the grid but a licensed electricity supplier, with the same legal standing as established distribution companies. The approval reflects a structural reality: hyperscale artificial intelligence workloads draw more power than small towns, and the traditional model of separating electricity customers from utilities no longer fits. Andhra Pradesh, which is aggressively courting data centre investment, has quietly rewritten the regulatory playbook in the process.
Larsen and Toubro Bets Rs 45,000 Crore on Energy and Technology
Engineering and construction giant Larsen and Toubro plans to invest between Rs 43,000 and Rs 45,000 crore (approximately USD 5 billion) across its businesses over the next five years under its Lakshya 31 strategic roadmap. The allocation is a clear statement of where India’s largest engineering company sees growth: Rs 15,000 crore earmarked for green hydrogen projects, Rs 10,000 crore for data centres, Rs 5,000 crore for industrial electronics, and Rs 3,000 crore for semiconductor-related investments. For investors tracking India’s energy transition, the breakdown signals that green hydrogen is now attracting serious private capital, not just government targets.
India and Japan Deepen Renewable Energy Partnership
A senior Japanese trade delegation met India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in New Delhi this week to advance bilateral cooperation across a broad range of clean energy technologies. Discussions covered biogas and compressed biogas for transport, green ammonia, the existing India-Japan hydrogen partnership, battery storage systems under India’s production-linked incentive programme, and next-generation solar technologies including perovskite cells. The breadth of the agenda signals that the India-Japan clean energy relationship is moving well beyond solar panels into the kind of deep technology partnership that shapes supply chains for decades. For India, Japanese technology and capital in green ammonia and advanced battery chemistry would directly address two of its most pressing energy transition gaps.
About the Author:
Sadananda Mohapatra is a veteran business journalist with decades of experience covering India’s energy, industry, and economic landscape. With stints at reputed financial news publications like The Business Standard & NewsWire18, he reported extensively on India’s power sector, minerals policy, coal and energy regulation, and industrial developments — building a deep, ground-level understanding of the global energy economy. His work spans corporate affairs, infrastructure, and policy analysis, with a particular focus on eastern India’s resource-rich industrial corridor. He currently writes on the global energy landscape through his newsletter, The Joule’s Stack.
