On Wednesday, the Indian Union Cabinet approved a significant ₹37,500 crore ($4.5 billion USD) coal gasification scheme designed to enhance the nation's energy security by gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030. This initiative aims to reduce India's heavy reliance on imports for key products such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), urea, and ammonia, which currently account for over 50%, 20%, and 100% of imports, respectively. The country's total import bill for these products reached approximately ₹2.77 lakh crore ($33.3 billion USD) in the financial year 2025, highlighting vulnerabilities exacerbated by geopolitical tensions in West Asia. The new scheme builds upon the National Coal Gasification Mission initiated in 2021 and an earlier ₹8,500 crore ($1.02 billion USD) scheme approved in January 2024. It aims to incentivize new coal gasification projects, targeting the production of synthesis gas (syngas) and its derivatives, with financial incentives capped at 20% of project costs. The initiative is expected to create around 50,000 jobs across 25 projects in coal-rich areas, supporting India's objectives of self-reliance and local manufacturing.