🇮🇳 India Energy Profile World's 3rd Largest Energy Consumer — 1.43 Billion People 500 GW Renewable Target 2030 — Fastest Solar Deployment Coal Still 70% of Electricity — Biggest Transition Challenge

India is the central tension of the global energy transition. The country has the world's fastest-growing renewable energy programme AND the world's fastest-growing coal consumption — both are true simultaneously. India needs more energy, full stop. 240 million people still lack reliable electricity. The country's GDP is growing at 7.6%/yr — every percentage point of growth adds ~15–20 GW of peak power demand. India's per-capita electricity consumption is 1,300 kWh/yr — barely 10% of the US level. As India's middle class grows from 200M to 700M people by 2040 (projected), energy demand will roughly triple. The question is not whether India's coal use will continue — it will, for at least another decade — but whether India can build renewables fast enough to eventually plateau and then decline coal's share. India's NDC target: 500 GW non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 (on track); 50% of electricity from non-fossil by 2030 (projected ~55%). India's absolute emissions are projected to peak around 2040–2045 — still 15–20 years of rising emissions even in the transition scenario. India's consistent position at COP negotiations: "We will transition, but on our timeline, and the developed world — which caused the climate crisis — must finance and transfer technology to enable a faster transition." This is the most consequential energy transition narrative in the world.