As India’s economy grows, the country needs more reliable and affordable energy for everything from farming to transportation. Right now, India is the third-largest user of crude oil in the world and spends about $144 billion (around ₹13 lakh crore) every year just to buy it from other countries. Because this huge cost affects the nation’s overall wealth, India is looking for new energy sources—specifically, deep beneath the ocean.
To find this underwater oil and gas, the Indian government has started a massive new project called Samudra Manthan.
Opening Up the Ocean
In the past, India wasn’t able to explore its own oceans very well. In fact, 99% of the coastline was completely off-limits for drilling, mostly for defense reasons. But recently, the government realized this was holding the country back from producing its own energy. They changed the rules, and now huge areas of the ocean are open for energy exploration.
What is the “Samudra Manthan” Project?
Started in July 2026, Samudra Manthan is a huge national effort to find oil and gas in deep waters. The first part of the plan will run until the 2030-31 financial year and has a massive budget of over ₹84,000 crores.
Drilling deep into the ocean is very expensive and risky—just testing one spot can cost over $125 million. Because it’s so expensive, the government is stepping in to share the costs with private companies to encourage them to search for oil.
The Four Main Parts of the Project
The Samudra Manthan plan is broken down into four main areas:
Mapping the Ocean Floor (Over ₹28,000 crores):
Before drilling, scientists need to know where to look. This money will pay for advanced 2D and 3D surveys to map the rocks under the sea and find where oil and gas might be hiding.
Deep-Sea Drilling (Over ₹43,000 crores):
This money will help pay to drill 60 test wells deep in the ocean. To get private companies involved, the government will pay up to half the cost (up to ₹675 crores) for each well.
Building Shared Equipment (₹1,000 crores):
Finding oil is only the first step; getting it out of the ocean requires pipelines and platforms. The government is building shared equipment so companies don’t have to build their own from scratch, which saves money and speeds things up.
Making Equipment in India (₹2,000 crores):
Instead of buying expensive drilling tools from other countries, this part of the plan will help Indian businesses learn to build and repair the equipment themselves.
What This Means for India’s Future
The main goal of Samudra Manthan is to find more oil and gas right here at home. If the project works, India hopes to:
Find enough new oil and gas to increase the country’s total reserves by a massive amount.
Boost how much energy India produces on its own every year.
Save up to ₹1 lakh crore every year that would normally be spent buying oil from other countries.
The work has already started. In July 2026, the first deep-water test well began drilling off the coast of India in the Mahanadi region.
Summary
India probably won’t be able to completely stop buying oil from other countries anytime soon, because the nation is growing so fast. But, the Samudra Manthan project is a smart backup plan. By producing more of its own oil and gas, India can protect itself when global oil prices go up or when there are problems in other parts of the world. It’s a big step toward making sure India has the energy it needs for the future.