The 3rd India Energy Week came weeks after President Donald Trump took charge and swiftly reversed green policies including withdrawal from climate change accords and initiating a quantum push for oil drilling. Needless to emphasize, the concomitant effects of these policies had its impact even at the IEW 2025, where hydrocarbons dominated the proceedings even while India attempted to showcase efforts to enable a smoother transition to cleaner fuels. While it was evident that fossil fuels would continue to dominate the energy mix of nations, India used the IEW to sensitize the world not just to the significance of alternate fuels but also imperative of energy justice and equity. The sentiment that emerged out of IEW 2025 was India’s rising profile in the global energy landscape.
As the world grapples with the dual challenges of climate change and energy security, India has emerged as a pivotal player in shaping the global energy landscape. The third edition of India Energy Week (IEW) 2025, held from 11-14 February 2025, at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in New Delhi, was not just another industry conference but a significant initiative to carve out a leadership position in the global energy landscape.
By the end of this year’s version, it was evident that the IEW was turning into a dynamic platform where policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators converged in order to not just redefine the Indian energy architecture but also elevate the dialogue in ways that could shape the global energy discourses.
In the words of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, the IEW is now the world’s second-largest energy conclave and has established India’s position as a global energy leader.
The four-day event at the grand convention centre just outside the Indira Gandhi International Airport saw not just Indian companies – including the public and private sector giants sharing space with Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) that showcased the ‘Make in India’ momentum – but also global players, particularly from the oil and natural gas industry as well as automotive majors and prominent names from the renewable sector.
Yet, there were notable absentees like the entities of the Reliance Group as well as leading renewable companies like Suzlon.
Industry insiders and IEW regulars who interacted with The Polity were of the view that while the IEW 2025 was spectacularly organised, it failed to match the enormity of companies and industrial ware on display in the IEW 2023 at Bangalore and the 2024 version in Goa. A reason cited by many of them was the distance from industrial zones to the national capital limited the possibility of showcasing products and machinery.
While the vibrant pavilions of Indian majors like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Petronet, Oil India Limited, Adani, Nayara and Cairn, among others, rubbed shoulders with their international counterparts like British Petroleum and Toyota, to name a few, the presence of global energy giants were lower in number. Conspicuous by their absence were also the Chinese companies some of which had prominent presence in the 2023 meet in Bangalore.
Click to read the complete article here. It was originally published at the Polity.