The latest flashpoint in West Asia has derailed India's preliminary plans to resume crude oil imports from Iran, officials said. In January, officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had told Business Standard that the government had been studying proposals for the same, given that India was trying to expand sources of imports. "We are always monitoring the situation when it comes to crude flows.
Trends in the global energy markets are crucial if India's growth outlook is to remain healthy. Prices for the Indian crude basket were averaging around $86.2 per barrel through Q1FY25 and then moderated to $84 in July and to $78-79 in August (so far). But global crude supply may outpace weak global demand in the short term.
India's net oil import bill could widen to $101-104 billion in current fiscal from $96.1 billion in 2023-24 and any escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict could impart an upward pressure on the value of imports, ICRA said on Tuesday. The domestic rating agency said based on its analysis, lower value of Russian oil imports is estimated to have led to savings of $7.9 billion in 11 months (April-February) of 2023-24, up from $5.1 billion in 2022-23.
Petroleum subsidy for 2013-14 budget estimates is Rs 64,998 crore.
Trying to give the best support to Indian contingent but still being criticised: IOA chief PT Usha
In a bid to bring down the cost of air operations, Aviation and Petroleum ministries will meet FM to get ATF notified as 'declared good'.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a display of linguistic diversity on Monday, with the newly-elected MPs taking their oaths in English and Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Dogri, Bengali, Assamese and Odia.
Domestic exporters on Monday expressed concerns over the crisis in Bangladesh and said the developments in the neighbouring country would have implications on bilateral trade. However, exporters expect that the situation may normalise soon. According to exporters, they are already facing disruptions in exports to Bangladesh due to a shortage of foreign exchange in that country.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, scheduled to meet on June 22, could take a call on ending uncertainty on taxing foreign airlines and shippers as regards certain services, a senior official in the know told Business Standard. He said the Council was expected to decide on exempting the services in question from GST - aircraft lease rentals, maintenance, crew salaries, etc. These services are provided by foreign airlines to their Indian operations.
'There's significant interest from both existing and new sponsors who recognise the value of associating with Olympic athletes.'
After dropping a Rs 5,000 crore plan to fill parts of strategic oil storages, the government will lease out space in the underground rock caverns to domestic and international firms to store oil, a top executive said on Tuesday. India Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd has built underground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store 5.33 million tonnes of oil that can be used in any emergency situation like supply disruption or war. UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has already hired half of the 2.5 million tonnes storage capacity at Padur and 1.5 million tonnes facility at Mangalore.
Escalation of the conflict in West Asia between Israel and Iran has had a direct impact on the energy markets, and more broadly on the financial markets as well as the global economy.
India recorded the highest monthly exports during the fiscal in February, registering an 11.9 per cent growth to $41.4 billion, mainly driven by increased shipments of engineering goods, electronic items and pharma products. The trade deficit during February worked out to $18.7 billion, up from $16.57 billion in the year-ago month, as gold imports surged significantly. Merchandise imports were valued at $60.11 billion, up 12.16 per cent compared to $53.58 per cent in February 2023.
The members of the cabinet committees included Union ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Democratic Alliance partners like Janata Dal-United, Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal-Secular, Shiv Sena and Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas.
"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.
Smartphones have been a key success story of the government's production-linked incentive scheme, helping India become the second-largest mobile phone manufacturing country, after China.
After a spike in crude oil and gas prices in October following the Hamas terror attack, prices eased down 9 per cent month-on-month in November. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Opec+ agreed to a further voluntary production cut in January-March 2024 to try and support global crude prices. The best guess here is that crude prices (currently at $75/barrel, or bbl) will not likely cross significantly above $80, and gas prices are also likely to remain subdued unless there's a further escalation in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
Wholesale inflation in the country rose marginally to 0.53 per cent in March compared to 0.20 per cent in the preceding month due to increase in prices of vegetables, potato, onion and crude oil. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was in the negative zone from April to October and had turned positive in November at 0.26 per cent. The inflation in March 2023 was 1.41 per cent.
Several people are still feared trapped in the debris after a series of landslides that occurred in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad.
Fresh plans of privatisation or divestment in central public sector enterprises and public sector banks might take a back seat this financial year because these may require a large consensus among coalition partners.
The operation went on for 66 hours after a giant 120 feet x 120 feet hoarding collapsed on a petrol pump in the Chheda Nagar area during gusty winds on Monday evening, the official said.
While most analysts are expecting poor results from oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the first quarter of 2024-25 (Q1FY25) and even in the first half (H1) of FY25, GAIL (India) could be an outlier. Upstream producers, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) could do well due to strong crude and gas prices, but refiners are likely to see weak margins and the impact of frozen prices during the election period will also be negative.
The strong message from the prime minister is of continuity of policies he considers right with strong emphasis on execution, points out T N C Rajagopalan.
'The Paris Olympics has once again blessed the Indian sports marketing landscape with fresh faces and promises.' 'Expect at least one biopic.'
State-owned Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd on Tuesday confirmed making an 'approach' to take over the Middle-East focussed oil firm Gulfsands Petroleum Plc for an undisclosed cash amount.
If 4,000 workers could work round the clock for the construction of the new Parliament building, then there is no reason why all infrastructure projects too cannot follow that model, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'We are in a position to start due diligence and private data room access shortly.'
Petrol pumps in many cities witnessed long queues on Tuesday as people came to fill up their vehicle tanks fearing shortage of fuel amid the protest by truck drivers against a provision in the new penal law on hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, on Friday reported a 5 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit as lower fuel cracks and petrochemical margins outdid gains in telecom and retail businesses. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit was at Rs 15,138 crore, or Rs 22.37 per share, in April-June -- the first quarter of the current 2023-24 fiscal year -- compared to Rs 16,011 crore, or Rs 23.66 a share, earnings a year back, according to a company's statement.
Petrol and diesel prices were cut by Rs 2 per litre each as state-owned oil companies ended a nearly two-year-long hiatus in rate revision, just hours before the general election schedule was announced.
Another partner or co-owner of the firm that operated the recreation facility has been nabbed which took the number of persons arrested in the case to five, officials said.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
Indian imports of Russian crude oil may stabilise or even decline in 2024 from record 2023 levels amid shrinking discounts, lower output, and a rebound in West Asian supplies, according to the ship-tracking data and industry executives. This may impact the billions of dollars in annual savings that India made last year. Imports of Russian oil jumped by a record 140 per cent in calendar 2023 to 1.79 million barrels a day (b/d) from 740,400 b/d in 2022, when Russia marched into Ukraine in February, and from just 102,000 b/d in 2021, according to the data from Paris-based market intelligence agency Kpler.
Key infrastructure sectors -- from railways to power, and from coal to petroleum -- will not only be part of the achievements but promises too, as the BJP fights to get a third term at the Centre.
The Cabinet on Thursday raised the foreign direct investment limit in petroleum sector to 100 per cent.
India's merchandise exports in April 2024 marginally rose to $34.99 billion from $34.62 billion in the year-ago month, according to government data released on Wednesday. Imports too increased to $54.09 billion from $49.06 billion in April 2023.
