While India won't be immune to global spillovers, we need to create the macro preconditions for sustained growth. Policy agility, prudence, and resilience will be key, suggests Sonal Varma.
India is estimated to spend $1.36 billion more a year for every one dollar a barrel increase in crude oil prices, says Subhayan Chakraborty.
India is massively underexplored, says Rahul Shir, CEO, Cairn India.
Among the Sensex firms, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, NTPC, Wipro, HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid and Reliance Industries Limited were the major laggards. Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finance were the gainers.
State-owned oil companies are all set to hike petrol prices by around Rs 3 per litre which will be effective from midnight on Friday.
ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, cracking over 16 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, TCS, SBI, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto.
The country's chief statistician T C A Anant on Wednesday said high global crude prices could impact India's economic growth in 2011-12 and projected that the GDP is likely to grow by around 8.5 per cent during the fiscal.
Wholesale inflation fell to a 3-month low of 2.04 per cent in July on decline in prices of food items especially vegetables, government data released on Wednesday showed. The decline in wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation in July came after it rose for four months in a row till June, when it was 3.36 per cent. It was (-) 1.23 per cent in July last year. In April wholesale inflation stood at 1.19 per cent.
Prices of petrol and diesel will not be reduced immediately as oil companies continue to make losses even after the recent fall in international oil prices, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
Indian basket at 6-month low of $49.11 a bbl
The total investment at risk is $930 billion and oil companies will need to cut their expenses by 30 per cent to make their projects viable provided oil remains around $70 a barrel.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday by 35 paise per litre, pushing the total increase in rates on petrol to Rs 36 per litre and on diesel to Rs 26.58 since early May 2020 when taxes on the two fuels were raised to record levels. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 107.24 a litre and diesel comes for Rs 95.97, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The latest increase that follows the unrelenting hike in international oil prices has pushed pump rates across the country to their highest-ever levels.
However, it may still not change its stance on the policy rate as inflationary pressures are coming from high commodity prices.
Every dollar increase in crude oil price will add Rs 4,000 crore to the overall underrecovery.
The rupee had lost 10 paise to close at 54.62 on Monday.
State-run fuel retailers are losing about Rs 135 crore (Rs 1.35 billion) per day on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene and the government is looking at proposals to make up for these losses, a senior official said.
Despite discounts on Russian crude oil - which fell to the lowest since the Ukraine war began - and the rising sanctions, import volumes from the country will remain stable for now or at least till July, said refinery officials. "There is an appetite for Russian crude, and shipments are not expected to taper off beyond this point unless something major happens. "Talks are on, and buying will continue," an official at a major refinery said.
Oil and select auto heavyweights bore the brunt of selling pressure; ONGC, RIL, Tata Motors, M&M key losers.
'A positive oil shock has a detrimental effect on growth and activity.'
This is the third reduction in rates in one month.
The fall in global oil prices has trimmed the losses of state-owned oil companies, but it may not be enough to prevent a Rs 4 per litre increase in diesel prices and a Rs 20-25 per cylinder hike in LPG rates later this month.
Among the Sensex firms, HDFC Bank emerged as the biggest loser, falling 4 per cent. JSW Steel, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Maruti, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro were the other major laggards. Power Grid, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, NTPC, ITC and Infosys were among the gainers.
Retail inflation declined to a three-month low of 5.1 per cent in January, mainly due to subdued prices of vegetables, fruits and other food items, according to government data released on Monday. The fall indicates that retail inflation is inching towards the Reserve Bank's comfort level of 4 per cent. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was on the rise for two straight months after touching a trough of 4.9 per cent in October 2023. In December, it stood at 5.69 per cent.
In first clear indications of a further reduction in petrol and diesel prices, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday said the government was considering passing on the benefit of the fall in international crude oil prices to consumers.
The fuel price hike for the last 16 days had caused inconvenience and disappointment among the general public.
Among the Sensex firms, Asian Paints, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti and Reliance Industries were the major gainers. ICICI Bank, NTPC, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.
Public sector oil firms on Tuesday slashed aviation turbine fuel prices by 7.9 per cent in line with fall in international oil prices.
The rupee fell by 49 paise to close at 81.89 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday as heavy selling pressure in the domestic equities and a spike in crude oil prices weighed on the local unit.
"At the moment there is no proposal before us for reducing prices," petroleum secretary R S Pandey told reporters in New Delhi. State-run oil retailers have started making profits on sale of petrol and diesel, but continue to incur hefty losses on domestic LPG and kerosene.
Oil companies have cut petrol price by Rs 0.95 per litre with effect from midnight tonight.
Among the 30-share Sensex blue-chip pack, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, and Power Grid, were the biggest gainers. Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel and Bajaj Finserv were the laggards.
Petrol price was on Monday cut by 85 paise per litre with effect from midnight tonight, the second reduction in rates in two weeks.
A fall in crude oil price and Aramco's $75 billion annual dividend commitment may have delayed Saudi company picking a stake in Reliance Industries Ltd's oil-to-chemical unit (O2C), research firm Jefferies said. Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani had in August 2019 announced talks for the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, which comprises its twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical assets, to the world's largest oil exporter. The deal was to conclude by March 2020 but has been delayed for reasons not disclosed by either company.
At the end of the day, for many worldwide, the ongoing mutual attacks between Israel and Iran would seem a contest devoid of any moral high ground and only a bout between two ordinary adversaries, one that nevertheless risks spinning out of control into a larger conflagration, notes Shyam G Menon.
In line with the government's expectations, inflation, which rose for the previous two weeks, fell below 8 per cent for the week ended September 4 mainly due to fall in the prices of vegetables and some edible oils.
Fuel rates were last revised on February 1 when petrol price was cut by a marginal 4 paise a litre.
'The real repo rate is very high in terms of core inflation.'
Seafood is one of India's largest agricultural exports after basmati rice and buffalo meat.
Prices are sustainable and not just driven by speculative gains
