Energy Balance in India's International Trade: An Input-Output Based Analysis

The energy balance due to embodied energy use may be significant for trade dependent economies. In this paper, authors estimate the balance of embodied energy in India’s international trade at aggregate and sector levels. Over time, the composite energy sector (including primary and secondary energy) is observed to have turned from energy deficit to energy surplus primarily on account of expanding petroleum sector. On the contrary, non-energy sector has become energy deficit though it had a relatively insignificant energy surplus in the initial period. This points to the importance of embodied energy, particularly coal based, in the traded goods.