For the current fiscal, the import bill has been pegged at $66 billion at an average import price of $48 per barrel
The companies' underrecoveries stood at a whopping Rs 1,39,869 crore last financial year. Of that, Rs 62,837 crore was accounted for by diesel alone.
Sensex heavyweight Reliance Industries fell 2.76 per cent. In percentage terms, major laggards were Yes Bank, Indusind Bank, RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank -- plunging as much as 6.62 per cent.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday reported a 5 per cent fall in the net profit for the July-September quarter, as weak oil refining and petrochemical business hurt operational performance.
Higher inflation has again become a matter of concern for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. After prices of commodities like sugar and wheat moved higher and stabilised at those levels, the crude oil too surged, adding to FMCG firms' worries. Besides, a dry spell in August in the ongoing monsoon season impacted rural demand.
India may soon see a new set of oil barons with lesser-known companies venturing into crude oil and natural gas production. These new kids on the block have come up through a mix of entrepreneurial grit and backing from oil industry veterans. Nippon Power, South Asia Consultancy, PFH (Poddar Family Holdings) Resources and Chennai-based Adbhoot Estates could be the first ones to start production from blocks awarded during the first round of Discovered Small Field (DSF-1) auctions. Adbhoot is in a 50:50 joint venture with the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Hindustan Oil Exploration Company that has some five oil producing assets and over 10 blocks across the country.
India and the visiting US officials have decided to hold a wrap-up session on Saturday morning to conclude the three-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, government sources said. They said the discussions are at a "very" early stage.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were the biggest gainers. Asian Paints, Maruti, Nestle, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement were among the laggards.
India's crude oil imports jumped by 23.3 per cent in July this year on increased demand for oil products, a senior petroleum ministry official said.
The growth of these core sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity -- was 4.6 per cent in April 2023.
Output in the first half of the year was 101.59 million tonnes.
From the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, HCL Tech, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers. In contrast, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.
Hit by inflation, higher input costs and pricing measures, fast-moving consumer goods companies are expected to see a contraction in their gross margin and a modest-to-flat operating profit in the October-December quarter. Several FMCG makers are likely to log a low single-digit rise in their revenue, returning to the cycle of value-driven growth.
The task of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to keep inflation under check, even when the country reeled under severe drought for two years in a row, and reduce the current account deficit, was made easier by low crude oil prices.
A plea of the UK-based Vedanta group company to export its share of crude oil from Barmer oil field in Rajasthan was on Tuesday rejected by the Delhi high court on the ground that domestic crude cannot be exported till India attained "self sufficiency".
Top government officials in New Delhi have started discussions with stakeholders ranging from shipping and container companies to export promotion councils to understand the impact of the Iran-Israel tensions and plan ahead. Inter-ministerial talks are also being lined up amid the crisis situation in West Asia, sources confirmed. While the crude flows are not directly under any threat, elevated oil prices remain a concern, according to officials.
Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro and ICICI Bank were also among the Sensex gainers. HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Nestle and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.
The leakage in a pipeline carrying Mumbai High crude oil to Uran was reported around 8.45 am and production was immediately stopped, a senior company official said.
India's major ports registered a 4.3 per cent rise in cargo handling to 855 million tonnes in 2024-25, an official statement said on Tuesday. The increase in traffic was driven by higher container throughput (10 per cent), fertiliser cargo handling (13 per cent), POL cargo handling (3 per cent), and handling of miscellaneous commodities (31 per cent) compared to the previous fiscal year, according to the statement.
Worries related to the Iran-Israel conflict, quarterly earnings and foreign investors' trading activity are the key factors that would dictate stock markets this week, analysts said. Besides, trends in Brent crude oil and movement of the rupee against the dollar will also be crucial factors. This week will be crucial for the market amid ongoing worries about the conflict between Iran and Israel, said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst, Swastika Investmart Ltd.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum may post a combined loss of Rs 10,700 crore in June quarter on selling petrol and diesel at rates below cost, a report said on Monday. While the raw material (crude oil) prices soared in April-June, petrol and diesel prices were not revised, leading to marketing losses which offset strong refining margins, ICICI Securities said in the report. The three state-owned oil marketing companies -- IOC, BPCL and HPCL -- control 90 per cent of the retail petrol and diesel sales in the country.
India is 80 per cent import dependent to meet its oil needs.
'The impact of COVID-19 on the economy has been so overwhelming that even a significant drop in global oil prices, which in normal times would have brought cheer, has posed new challenges for the government,' observes A K Bhattacharya.
Oil prices jumped nearly $3 a barrel and gold and safe-haven bonds rallied on Friday after the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike by the US in Baghdad.
India and the US have decided to hold sector-specific talks in the coming weeks to finalise the structure of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), the government said on Saturday. The engagement between the two countries came in the backdrop of the USA's threat to impose reciprocal tariffs on its key trading partners, including India, on April 2.
Of Trump's reciprocal tariffs and trade deals
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged more than 1 per cent on Monday, registering their fifth day of rally on the back of buying in banking and IT shares after encouraging quarterly earnings and foreign fund inflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 855.30 points or 1.09 per cent to settle above the 79,000 mark at 79,408.50.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances