India, the world's third largest oil consumer, plans to buy producing oil and gas fields abroad to compensate for falling domestic production and to mitigate the impact of oil price volatility on Indian economy. Given the rapid growth in demand, India's oil import dependence increased from 73%in 2010 to 83% in 2018. Some Indian companies have invested in foreign hydrocarbon assets, but fields are for the most part still under development or not reaching output target. India is currently negotiation with Rosneft to invest in eastern Russia.
In December 2019, Indian state-owned oil and gas corporations ONGC and Oil India presented their plans to invest respectively INR1,601bn (US$22.3bn) and INR176bn (US$2.5bn) over the next five years in domestic exploration and production-related activities. The country forecasts an increase in crude oil production from 35 Mt in 2019-20 to 39 Mt in 2023-24 (+11%), and in natural gas output from 35 bcm in 2019-2020 to 56 bcm in 2023-24 (+60%).
In August 2019, ONGC presented a business roadmap entitled “ONGC Energy Strategy 2040” that aims to double its oil and gas output, to triple its refining capacity and to diversify into renewables by 2040. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, ONGC produced 34 Mt of crude oil and over 30 bcm of natural gas, of which 29% and 16%, respectively, were produced overseas.