India's foremost challenge is to bridge the energy deficit that has affected the economy in many ways, Finance Minister P.  Chidambaram said.

Stressing on the need to ensure the country's energy security, Mr.  Chidambaram said that the lack of sufficient gas had hurt the country's power and fertilizer production capacities.

Speaking on the topic, he said, "The deficit has affected us in many ways. 24,147 megawatts of power capacity is stranded for lack of gas.  Nearly 3.4 million tonnes of fertiliser cannot be produced for lack of gas.  The country's foremost challenge is therefore to bridge the energy deficit."

Mr.  Chidambaram was speaking at Petrotech 2014 International Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday.

He also said that India aimed at containing its current account deficit (CAD) for the current financial year ending March 31, 2014 to nearly US$50 billion.  In the last financial year, the country's CAD hit its all time high of US$88 billion, mainly due to heavy imports of petroleum products and gold.

Mr.  Chidambaram also exuded confidence that Indian economy would gradually be able to return to high growth path within three years.  India's GDP growth slipped from 9.3 per cent in FY2010-11 to 6.2 per cent in FY2011-12 and then to its lowest level in a decade to 5 per cent in FY2012-13.