India is the fastest growing among the major economies of the world and the petroleum and petrochemical sector is playing a pivotal role in this, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli said.

He also said that Indian Oil's Panipat refinery is going to set up a green hydrogen plant of 7,000 tonnes capacity with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore.

These mega projects would speed up the economic development not only in Haryana but in the country, the minister said on Wednesday and added that wherever such complexes are set up, many opportunities for development arise in the surrounding areas. This also helps in providing large scale employment opportunities, Teli said.

He was speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of Indian Oil Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Panipat, a Haryana government statement issued here said.

The minister said he is sure that the way the people of Haryana have continuously contributed in the development of the Indian Oil Panipat Refinery, in the same way they would continue to contribute in making India, a self-reliant country.

Recently, India became the fifth largest economy in the world leaving the UK behind, he said. The minister of state added that the petroleum and petrochemical sector is playing a pivotal role in the country's economic progress.

The refinery is going to increase its capacity which would reduce the country's import in terms of energy consumption, thereby saving foreign exchange, the statement said.

On the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said with the setting up of the Indian Oil Panipat Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in 1998, Haryana got a new identity on the world map in the refinery industry.

At the time of inception, it had a refining capacity of six million metric tonnes, which has now increased to 15 million metric tonnes. Indian Oil plans to increase the refinery capacity to 25 million tonnes in the coming years, the statement said.

While assuring all support and cooperation of the state government for this expansion, Khattar said talks have been held with the panchayats of three villages Pal Jatan, Khandwa and Aasan Kalan around the refinery and they offered to give about 350 acres for this purpose.

Chief Minister Khattar said as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to make India TB free by 2025, the Panipat refinery has taken an initiative to distribute handheld X-ray machines in 22 districts of Haryana to make this campaign a success.

IOCL chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya presented a machine to the chief minister. Khattar said a green hydrogen plant with an annual capacity of 7,000 metric tonnes is also being set up by the refinery at Panipat. In addition, the refinery has created an infrastructure capable of filling 1,000 medical grade oxygen cylinders daily, he added.

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