Welcome to Hard Talk from the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saka.

Today I'm in Delhi, and my guest is a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government

with a key role in keeping India's economic engine firing.

Hadip Singh Puri, a former diplomat who joined the Hindu nationalist BJP after retiring from the Foreign Service is Minister for

Petroleum and Natural Gas. In energy-hungry and resource limited India, it's a job which involves

plenty of diplomacy and deal-making. In the last three years, Russia has become a key partner.

Since Putin's all-out invasion of

Ukraine and the West's imposition of sanctions on Moscow, India has taken advantage of an opportunity

to buy vast amounts of Russian oil at a cut price. Last year, almost 40% of all India's imported oil came from Russia. But how sustainable

is that level of dependence? And what does it mean for India's wider geopolitical positioning?

India's impressive growth rate, again expected to be over 6% this year is heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Minister Singpuri has big ambitions to exploit India's own offshore oil potential.

But how does that and the rollout of new coal mines fit with the country's climate change commitments?

Well, Hadip Singh Puri joins me now.

Welcome to Hard Talk.

Good to be back.

It's great to have you on the show.

Let me begin by asking you about your boss, Prime Minister Modi's grand ambition to have India become a fully developed nation, as he puts it, by 2047, to mark the centenary

of India's modern nationhood. It's a grand ambition, but in all honesty, it's not possible, is it?

Not possible. I think it's going to be made possible well before the 100 years of independence are over.

Let me set out my vision of what is at stake and what is doable realistically.

We're already the fifth largest economy in the world.

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