# What powers India? ## What generates India's electricity? India's electricity is still overwhelmingly coal-driven. In 2025, coal generated 1,474 TWh, or 70.8% of total generation. Clean sources together generated 555 TWh, or 26.7%. Gas was much smaller at 48.5 TWh, or 2.3%. So the first answer to "what powers India?" is simple for electricity: coal is the backbone, clean power is now a serious second block, and gas is marginal. ## How has the electricity mix changed over time? The long-run chart shows why the transition feels slow even when renewables are growing fast. Coal generation rose from 390 TWh in 2000 to 1,474 TWh in 2025. Clean generation rose from 96 TWh to 555 TWh over the same period, which is a much faster multiple, but still a smaller absolute base. Gas went the other way, from 56 TWh in 2000 to 48.5 TWh in 2025. The grid is getting cleaner at the margin, but coal has not disappeared; it has grown with demand. ## How much crude oil does India import each month? PPAC's current 2025-26 report shows crude oil imports of 245.4 million tonnes for the fiscal year. Monthly crude imports were consistently large, mostly around 19 to 22 million tonnes: 21.0 million tonnes in April 2025, a low of 18.9 million tonnes in July, and a high of 21.6 million tonnes in December. In value terms, PPAC reports a crude import bill of $123.1 billion. Oil is the big import-exposure layer of India's energy system. ## What India pays per barrel The PPAC Indian crude basket puts a price on that dependence. The endpoint gives usable fiscal-year averages of $44.6/bbl in 2020-21, $78.9/bbl in 2021-22, $82.5/bbl in 2023-24, and $78.6/bbl in 2024-25. Its latest current row is 2026-27 year-to-date, averaging $110.4/bbl from the available months. That latest point is not a full-year average, but it shows the pressure clearly: when the basket price rises, the same crude-import volume costs many more dollars. ## Fuel import bill in dollars Put the fuel imports next to each other and crude oil dominates. In 2025-26, PPAC puts crude oil imports at $123.1 billion. TradeStat puts coal imports at $26.7 billion. PPAC puts petroleum product imports at $20.9 billion and LNG imports at $13.3 billion. Together, these four buckets are about $184 billion. The electricity story begins with coal, but the macroeconomic story begins with the import bill. ## Fuel import bill in rupees The rupee view makes the scale more legible for Indian readers. In 2025-26, crude oil imports cost ₹10,88,904 crore. Coal imports cost ₹2,35,954 crore. Petroleum product imports cost ₹1,83,890 crore. LNG imports cost ₹1,17,542 crore. Crude is the largest by far, but coal, products, and LNG together are still large enough to matter for the trade balance and for any serious energy-security story. ## Which countries supply India's crude oil? TradeStat's 2025-26 partner table shows the current crude import map. Russia is the largest supplier by value at $40.8 billion, followed by Iraq at $23.1 billion, Saudi Arabia at $19.5 billion, the UAE at $15.1 billion, and the US at $9.9 billion. Kuwait, Nigeria, Angola, Brazil, and Qatar follow. This is the latest origin snapshot; the next chart shows how unusual Russia's rise is when viewed over time. ## How did Russia become India's top crude supplier? Russia was not literally zero in the earlier TradeStat window, but it was small. In 2017-18 India imported about $1.2 billion of Russian crude, ranked 14th among suppliers. It stayed small through 2021-22, then jumped to $31.0 billion in 2022-23, became number one at $46.5 billion in 2023-24, peaked at $50.3 billion in 2024-25, and still led at $40.8 billion in 2025-26. At the same time, Iran falls from $9.0 billion in 2017-18 and $12.1 billion in 2018-19 to zero in later years. This is the clearest geopolitical shift in the energy-trade data. ## Where does India import its coal from? Coal still powers most electricity, and imported coal adds another dependency layer. TradeStat's 2025-26 HS 2701 table has Australia and Indonesia almost tied at the top, with $6.2 billion each. Russia follows at $3.4 billion, the US at $3.3 billion, and South Africa at $2.9 billion. These are value rankings, not heat-content rankings, so price and coal grade both affect the order. ## Which countries supply India's LNG? LNG is smaller than crude and coal, but it is still a named import channel. TradeStat's 2025-26 LNG table is led by Qatar at $5.6 billion, followed by the UAE at $1.5 billion, the US at $1.4 billion, Angola at $1.3 billion, Oman at $1.2 billion, and Nigeria at $1.2 billion. This is LNG under HS 271111, not pipeline gas. ## How much LNG does India import each month? PPAC reports 25.8 million tonnes of LNG imports in 2025-26, equal to 34,216 MMSCM, with a value of $13.3 billion. Monthly LNG imports usually sit around 2.0 to 2.4 million tonnes, with September and October both around 2.44 million tonnes. PPAC marks the March 2026 value as provisional, so the final row can move when official trade data is finalized. ## What about petroleum product imports? India imports crude at a much larger scale than finished petroleum products, but product imports are not zero. PPAC puts petroleum product imports at $20.9 billion in 2025-26, while product exports are $41.1 billion. TradeStat's product-origin table is led by Russia at $3.5 billion, Korea at $1.2 billion, the UAE at $1.1 billion, Iraq at $698 million, Singapore at $532 million, and Qatar at $401 million. India is a major refiner, but it still imports selected products. ## Is India's electricity grid getting cleaner? Yes, per unit. Ember's carbon-intensity series falls from about 740 gCO2/kWh in 2000 to about 670 gCO2/kWh in 2025. That is real progress, but it is gradual because coal generation remains large. The country can make each unit of electricity cleaner while total generation, and therefore total fuel demand, keeps rising. ## How fast is electricity demand climbing? Electricity demand rose from 573 TWh in 2000 to 2,083 TWh in 2025. Per-capita electricity demand rose from 0.5 MWh to 1.4 MWh over the same period. This is the core constraint on the transition: clean generation has to grow against a moving target. The system is not just replacing old coal; it is trying to meet new demand at the same time. ## Sources - Electricity generation, demand, and carbon intensity: Ember yearly India power-sector datasets through 2025. - Crude oil and petroleum product quantities and values: PPAC current 2025-26 import/export reports, modified 21 May 2026. - Indian crude basket price: PPAC international crude oil page; current row modified 02 June 2026, with the latest 2026-27 point treated as year-to-date. - LNG physical volumes and values: PPAC LNG imports current workbook for 2025-26; March 2026 is marked provisional by PPAC. - Partner-country import rankings and crude partner history: TradeStat / DGCI&S commodity-wise import tables for fiscal years 2017-18 through 2025-26. - Coal import spend: TradeStat / DGCI&S HS 2701 import value for 2025-26. - Electricity access and population context: World Bank India indicators. --- Source: [This Indian Life](https://thisindianlife.today/articles/what-powers-india/) · Updated 2026-06-02. 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