Cairn India plans to plough $ 927 million into Rajasthan block over three years
Cairn India plans to invest $ 927 million in its Rajasthan oil fields in three years to 2016 under a new integrated development plan, even as it seeks an extension of the block contract beyond 2020.
The company “proposes to make risk investment of $ 927 million during 2013-16 under integrated block development plan in the interest of optimizing the potential of the block at the earliest,” he wrote, adding, such an approval would cut lead time between discovery and production by half to 18 months.
At present, the government reaps profit from oil and gas field only after the operator has recovered all of its investment. Because of this, the government does not give blanket investment approvals and only gives nod for spending upon establishment of a discovery as commercially viable.
(Sources: Business Standard, Financial Express, Times of India, Zeenews)
ONGC-Shell deal to add fuel to India’s oil sector investments
India’s oil and gas sector is all set for a billion dollar partnership with India’s biggest energy company Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and global major Royal Dutch Shell getting ready to announce a co-operation in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), oil refining and marketing of petroleum products in India.
ONGC and Shell India have already held several rounds of discussions for stitching together a partnership that will not only announce Shell’s entry into India’s exploration sector after 16 years, but also help ONGC emerge as a leading player in the downstream oil refining business in the years to come, sources close to the management of the two companies told HT.
Chief Executive Women officer of Shell Companies in India, Yasmine Hilton, the only woman CEO in India’s oil and gas industry, had also shared her company’s intent to re-enter the oil and gas exploration sector and make fresh investments in India.
(Sources: Hindustan Times, Livemint, Financial News Focus, India Everyday, Yahoo News)
Boost investment to overcome difficult economic situation: PM
Underlining that the country's economy is passing through difficult times, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today stressed the need for increasing investment across sectors and creation of an enterprise and investment-friendly climate.
The Prime Minister said the government has taken a major initiative in setting up the Cabinet Committee on Investment for fast-tracking industrial and infrastructural projects.
The country's economy slipped to a decade's low of 5 % in 2012-13. The economy growth was 6.2 % during 2011-12. Finance Minister P Chidambaram has proposed to bring down fiscal deficit to 4.8 % of GDP in 2013-14 from 5.2 % estimated in the previous fiscal.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indian Express, IBNLive, Livemint, i4u, India Everyday)
India has $1 trillion infrastructure deficit: FM tells WB
India has a $1 trillion infrastructure deficit over the next five years, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has told the World Bank, which wants private sector participation to bridge the funding gap.
Chidambaram met World Bank President Jim Yong Kim yesterday morning on the sidelines of the annual Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
At a public event here along with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Kim stressed on the importance of private sector participation on meeting such a massive funding need.
(Sources: Economic Times, NDTV, World News, Business World, Indian Express)
Chidambaram says India would welcome another rate cut
Finance minister P. Chidambaram said a further cut in interest rates by the central bank would help revive economic expansion, and flagged the possibility of bettering his target for the budget deficit.
Chidambaram met investors including pension funds in the US and Canada before the Spring meetings began, striving to woo capital to fund India’s record current-account deficit. The imbalance, together with a consumer-inflation rate exceeding 10%, has restricted the central bank to a reduction of 50 basis points in borrowing costs in 2013 even as growth falters.
Reserve Bank of India governor D. Subbarao will lower the repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 7.25 % in his policy decision due 3 May, according to 14 of 16 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The other two predict no change, following quarter-point reductions in January and March each.
(Sources: Livemint, Business Week, Business Times, Times of Oman, Rediff News)
Policy aims to attract port infrastructure investments
To attract investment in port infrastructure, the government may allow port trusts to lease land to private companies to establish industry or special economic zones, shipping secretary P.K. Sinha said.
The proposal, to be considered by the cabinet, will not only help attract investments at the 12 major ports owned by the Union government, which account for 58% of India’s external trade shipped by sea, but will also expedite decision-making.
The 12 major ports—Chennai, Kochi, Ennore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Kolkata, Kandla, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin and Visakhapatanam—have a capacity to handle 744.33 million tonnes of cargo a year.
India plans to triple the cargo-handling capacity at its 12 major and 187 non-major ports to 3.13 billion tonnes by 2020 from 1.25 billion tonnes currently to meet demand, according to a 10-year plan unveiled by the shipping ministry in 2011.
(Sources: Livemint, News BCC)
Lamborghini tractors to soon roar in Indian fields
After speeding with Lamborghini sports cars, affluent Indians will soon get a chance to plough fields with tractors of the same premium brand with Italian farm equipment maker Same Deutz-Fahr (SDF) Group planning to introduce the product here.
The group is also planning to make India its global production hub for engines within the next three years and will move its global tractor engine production from Italy and Germany to the plant of its Indian arm, Same Deutz-Fahr India at Ranipet near Chennai.
(Sources: Economic Times, Indiatimes, Dainik Jagran, NDTV, Press Trust of India)
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