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The article responds to B. G. Desai's comments on their work, emphasizing the consideration of a 50-year timeframe to set an ambitious Human Development Index (HDI) target for India. It authors stress the need for a high standard of living, the challenges of state-wise HDI variations, the importance of "energy footprint," and their view on a reasonable energy consumption target for the country.

Determining minimum energy consumption per capita to support high development is a crucial activity for energy planners and policy makers working within resource, environmental and budgetary constraints. A composite metric like the human development index (HDI) of a nation is positively correlated with its energy consumption. The present study focuses on the estimation of minimum energy requirement for India to attain net-zero and a HDI value of 0.9 by 2070. The final energy requirement is found to be about 18,900–22,300 TWh/yr, indicating more than three-fold rise from the current consumption. About 30–40% of the final energy may be consumed in the form of hydrogen, whereas the rest will be used directly as electricity. Rapid infrastructure creation for high development and extensive digitalization may require additional 4400–4800 TWh/yr in the initial phases of rapid growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]