India, Aug. 1 -- The Union cabinet on Friday approved Samudra Manthan, a Rs.84,084 crore scheme to hunt for oil and gas off India's coast. The plan, over five years, is to acquire modern seismic data across the country's offshore basins, drill 60 deepwater exploration wells with the government picking up half the tab, and build shared infrastructure so any discoveries can actually be produced.

If it works, domestic output rises from about 62 million tonnes of oil-equivalent a year to 80. If it works.

That "if" is doing a lot of work.

India's crude production has fallen from 36.9 million tonnes in 2015-16 to 28.7 million tonnes in 2024-25, even as import dependency has climbed to a record 88.7% in the financial year just ended.

The Int...