This far-reaching entrepreneurship is taking shape in industrial parks, tech incubators and in institutions across a country that will outpace China as the world’s most populous nation, with 1.6 billion people by 2040. As this economic development takes hold, so too does India’s use of new technology that allows for the modernization of its energy mix.

“This is India’s moment,” said Bill Davis, ExxonMobil’s country manager for India. “We see rapid growth and transformation- a nation positioning to benefit from the economic potential of a demographic wave. And we see energy as a key part of the equation, including cleaner-burning natural gas.”

Bolstering this development, both on the roads and the factory floors, is an increasing shift to natural gas. That supply is ultimately flowing into next-generation transportation vehicles.  Natural gas is a logical fuel for these conversions, as it burns cleaner in engines and reduces emissions – helping meet the country’s sustainability goals within Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four energy pillars.

The country’s growing industrial and manufacturing base continues to expand in every direction, and with it, the demand for natural gas as a heating source and feedstock. In all, the country’s expanding industrial output will account for much of the country’s 85 percent increase in total energy demand between 2016 and 2040.

Natural gas, largely through growing imports of liquefied natural gas, will play an increasingly important role in supplying that dynamic demand growth, replacing lower energy intensity sources in the homes, at work and on the road.

At a macro level, the little molecule in natural gas will help with the country’s ambitious economic development campaign: Make in India. The expansive initiative includes the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which will foster new manufacturing and industrial facilities that will increasingly rely on natural gas as a critical feedstock.

On a personal level, families will cook more with natural gas, replacing the burning of wood and other biomass, which can produce heavy smoke that can often lead to health issues.

There are few places in the world that are experiencing as dramatic change as India. Today, people are seeing bright new opportunities. And energy, in the form of natural gas, is helping unlock India’s potential.

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