Samudra Manthan — Offshore Exploration Reserve Accretion Target

Samudra Manthan is a national deepwater oil and gas exploration programme approved by the Cabinet in 2025-26 with a ₹84,084 crore ($8.8 billion) outlay. It provides up to 50% cost subsidy for drilling deepwater and ultra-deepwater wells — dramatically de-risking exploration in India's 3.1 million sq km of exclusive economic zone (EEZ), less than 10% of which has been explored. Target: accretion of 600 MMTOE in new hydrocarbon reserves. India imports ~85% of its crude oil needs (spending $160+ billion/year in FY2025-26) — domestic offshore finds could meaningfully reduce import dependence. Named after the mythological churning of the ocean, the scheme was designed alongside the OALP rounds to attract international majors.