India's oil and gas industry has kick-started economic activities/projects, numbering 8,363, with an anticipated cost of Rs 5.88 lakh crore (approximately $78 billion), the government has said.

The announcement came after the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, held his latest review in a series of all on-going projects.

"India’s petroleum Industry has turned crisis into opportunity and is striving to work on mission mode to generate employment and revive growth," the ministry said in a statement. "Oil and gas entities in their role as key actors are working on a war-footing and contributing to the green shoots of economic revival, already visible through the backward and forward linkages of this industry."

It said the oil and gas sector is a key driver of economic growth and, therefore, these projects which have been kick-started since April provide a boost to the national economy and will trigger job creation.

"A total of around 338 million man-days of employment is expected to be generated towards the completion of these 8,363 projects. In the current financial year, as on 15th August, employment of more than 22 million man-days has been generated through capital expenditure in the execution of oil and gas projects," the statement said.

The projects include several joint ventures with foreign entities in refining, drilling and petrochemicals. They also cover refinery projects, bio refineries, E&P projects, infrastructure projects, pipelines and drilling/survey activities.