India’s refining sector is entering a phase in which adding capacity will no longer be enough. HPCL Chairman and Managing Director Vikas Kaushal has identified digital technology, startup collaboration and compressed biogas as important to the industry’s next stage, linking the shift to supply disruptions and the expansion of refining infrastructure.
Kaushal made the remarks during an exclusive conversation with ANI on the sidelines of the 29th Energy Technology Meet 2026. The event, described as a recognised platform for India’s downstream oil industry, has expanded beyond conventional refining discussions to include compressed biogas, startup platforms and emerging innovation systems.
That change in the event’s scope is significant because it places operational technology alongside the physical expansion of refineries. The supplied report does not establish a new national policy or funding programme, but it does show how a major public-sector refiner is describing the sector’s immediate challenge: ensuring that growing capacity can respond to more volatile supply conditions and increasingly complex operations.
For cities and industrial regions, the issue is not remote. Refineries are part of the infrastructure that supports the movement of fuels, industrial activity and urban consumption. Their performance depends not only on the size of a plant but also on how efficiently it converts crude and manages changing feedstock, production and supply conditions. Kaushal’s comments suggest that HPCL sees data-led decision-making and external innovation partnerships as part of that operational task.
The Energy Technology Meet provides the institutional setting for this transition. Industry participants use the platform to discuss technology and exchange ideas, while the expanded programme is intended to create opportunities for collaboration. Kaushal referred to initiatives such as the Govardhan scheme and MC Square, an innovation platform, as examples of efforts connected with this broader approach.
According to the report, MC Square was mentoring around 43 to 45 participants in its cohort, with several startups presenting solutions at the event. The available material does not specify the individual technologies, their commercial stage or the extent to which any of them have been deployed in operating refineries. That limitation matters. Startup participation can create a pipeline of ideas, but the practical test for the refining sector is whether those ideas can be integrated into complex, safety-sensitive and continuously operating industrial systems.
Kaushal’s argument is that India’s refining industry already has technical strengths, but must embed innovation more deeply in its operations. He said supply challenges had made the need for innovation more pronounced and pointed to digital-based startups that work with data differently. The emphasis is therefore not only on building new hardware. It is also on using data and digital tools to improve how existing and new assets are operated.
This distinction is important as refining capacity grows. A new facility adds physical capability, but its performance also depends on conversion efficiency, process control and the ability to optimise operations. HPCL’s recent projects, cited by Kaushal, illustrate the increasing technical complexity of the assets involved.
At the company’s Visakhapatnam refinery, HPCL commissioned a residue upgradation facility at the beginning of the year. The unit enables deep conversion of the bottom of the barrel into diesel and other light distillates, with a reported conversion rate of 93 per cent. Kaushal described the facility as one of the most complex technologies in deep conversion and said HPCL was working to optimise its operations.
The project shows why capacity expansion cannot be assessed only through headline volumes. A refinery’s ability to extract more valuable products from heavier residual material is also a question of process capability. In this case, the reported 93 per cent conversion rate is a specific performance figure, while the continuing optimisation effort indicates that commissioning a complex unit is not the same as completing its operational learning curve.
Kaushal also highlighted HPCL’s latest greenfield refinery, commissioned during the year and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 4. The refinery has a reported complexity index of around 17, which Kaushal said was the second-highest after Reliance Industries. The index reference places the facility within a discussion of technical sophistication, although the supplied report does not provide a broader comparison of refining capacity, throughput or performance across Indian plants.
Together, the Visakhapatnam upgrade and the greenfield refinery point to two parallel directions for India’s refining infrastructure. One involves improving the productivity and product yield of existing facilities. The other involves creating new plants with a higher degree of complexity. Both require engineering capability, but both also create a demand for systems that can monitor, analyse and optimise operations over time.
This is where the startup and digital-innovation discussion connects to the physical infrastructure story. The sector is not being described as a technology industry in isolation from refineries. Instead, innovation is being presented as an operating layer for industrial assets. That layer may involve data systems, process optimisation or other solutions, but the report does not identify specific products or disclose measurable outcomes from startup-led interventions.
The inclusion of compressed biogas adds another dimension. Kaushal said the Energy Technology Meet had widened its scope to include CBG and initiatives such as the Govardhan scheme. The report does not provide details on the scheme’s scale, feedstock arrangements, production targets or links with HPCL’s refining operations. It does, however, show that the downstream energy conversation is beginning to include fuels and platforms outside the traditional refinery model.
That broadening reflects a sector responding to more than one form of pressure. Conventional refining capacity remains central to the industry’s plans, while CBG and other emerging areas introduce different technology, supply and collaboration requirements. The evidence supplied does not establish how large CBG will become within India’s overall energy system. It does establish that the subject is now being discussed within a major industry technology forum alongside refining innovation.
The institutional structure visible in the report is collaborative rather than limited to a single company. The Energy Technology Meet brings together industry participants, while MC Square provides a platform for startups and mentoring. HPCL’s role is that of a major public-sector refiner seeking to connect operational requirements with external ideas. The report does not state whether these initiatives are supported by a dedicated public budget, a formal procurement framework or long-term commercial contracts.
That missing detail is central to understanding whether innovation can move beyond demonstrations. A cohort of 43 to 45 participants indicates an organised mentoring effort, but it does not by itself show how many solutions will reach commercial deployment. Similarly, the presence of startups at an industry event signals engagement, but not the scale or durability of adoption. The next measurable stage would be evidence of pilots, procurement, integration into refinery systems and verified operational results.
The report also places the discussion within India’s broader technical workforce. Kaushal expressed confidence in the country’s refining capabilities and noted that Indian-trained professionals operate refineries in regions such as the Middle East and Africa. This is an assertion about the reach of Indian expertise, while the supplied material does not provide employment figures, project counts or independent benchmarks. Its relevance lies in the link between human capability and the ability to operate increasingly complex industrial assets.
For urban infrastructure, the larger question is how energy systems maintain reliability while their physical and technological complexity increases. Refineries sit upstream of many urban activities, but their challenges are often discussed separately from city planning. Supply disruption, process efficiency and fuel production eventually affect the wider systems that cities depend on, even when the operational decisions are taken inside industrial facilities.
The evidence in this report confirms three developments: HPCL is expanding and upgrading its refining assets; its leadership sees supply volatility as strengthening the case for innovation; and the company is engaging with startups, digital technologies and CBG through an expanded industry platform. It does not yet establish the commercial impact of the startup initiatives, the national scale of CBG collaboration or the future performance of the newly commissioned assets.
Those are the developments that require monitoring. The next stage will be visible in whether the innovation platforms produce deployable technologies, whether complex refinery units achieve the performance expected of them and how collaboration around CBG develops. India’s refining expansion is therefore becoming a test not only of construction and commissioning, but of whether institutions can continuously improve the infrastructure they have built.
