New Delhi, Jan. 12 : Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Monday said that the country has of late adopted an integrated energy policy that would enable it to fuel economic growth and meet the larger human development goals by choosing fuels that are socially and economically desirable.

Addressing the issue of India''s energy deficit, Deora said the integrated energy policy envisages an energy mix that focuses on augmenting the domestic energy resource base and increasing efficiency while strategizing India''s stakes in energy assets overseas.

Speaking the Petrotech-2009, Asia''s biggest biennial Oil and Gas Industry event, Deora said that India needed to sustain at least a nine percent economic growth to be projected as the world''s second fastest economy.

"Our government has recently adopted an Integrated Energy Policy. India needs to sustain an economic growth of at least nine percent over the next 25 years if it is to eradicate poverty and meet its larger human development goals. The primary energy supply, including gathered non-commercial such as wood and dung, must increase at the rate of 5.8 percent annually for fuelling the growth," said Deora.

India''s growth plans will make it a major contributor to the incremental global energy demand that would need a huge energy market infrastructure to be developed through domestic and international investments.

Deora said that this can be achieved through public-private partnership.

"The public and private sectors have to play important roles here. We need to develop public-private partnerships in ways that attract the needed investment and provide energy services to the consumers at least cost. We however recognize that in many areas and regions, the public sector and the government will continue to play an important role," said Deora.

India is counted as the seventh largest energy producer in the world, but at present its per capita energy consumption is less than one-third of the global average. (ANI)