Daily News - Wednesday, 9 October 2024

Banks should avoid high-risk lending: FM (Business Standard)

⁠Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) to avoid high-risk, long-term funding and focus instead on mobilizing deposits, retail lending, and supporting medium-term projects to prevent a recurrence of non-performing assets (NPA) crisis. She emphasized that institutions like the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) are better positioned to handle long-term, high-risk projects, while banks should avoid asset-liability mismatches that previously caused severe financial stress. Sitharaman praised Indian regulators for enhancing transparency and their global recognition, while also highlighting concerns about discrepancies between the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) baskets. 

Govt to lease out crude oil storage amid Gulf tensions (Business Standard)

⁠State-owned Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) plans to award leases by December for around 1 million tons of crude oil storage across two of India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs), addressing potential disruptions from Gulf tensions. ISPRL is evaluating offers for space in the Visakhapatnam and Mangalore SPRs, with 70% of current capacity filled and additional leasing planned to enhance India’s energy security, which is currently less robust compared to other major nations like China. With oil imports accounting for 88% of India’s needs, there are plans for a second phase of storage construction, though challenges like land acquisition and budget constraints have delayed progress. 

⁠‘No panic, enough oil available globally’ (Business Standard)

Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri reassured that India can handle any oil supply shocks resulting from the Middle East conflict, despite being over 85% reliant on imports for crude oil. He emphasized that the global oil market remains well-supplied, and India can manage disruptions, as it has done in the past, by sourcing from new suppliers. Rising tensions, including potential Israeli retaliation against Iran and risks to the Strait of Hormuz—through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows—may escalate oil prices, but Puri stressed there is no need for panic. (Source: Business Standard)

⁠Malaysia not to press for review of import duty rise on edible oil (The Hindu)

Malaysia’s Minister for Plantation and Commodities, Johari Bin Abdul Ghani, stated that Malaysia “respects” India’s decision to raise import duties on edible oil, affirming it will not affect trade relations between the two nations. He expressed Malaysia’s readiness to support India’s National Mission on sustainable oil palm cultivation through technology transfer, high-yielding seeds, and saplings. Despite some temporary cancellations of orders due to the tariff increase, Malaysia remains committed to supporting India’s indigenous palm oil production efforts. 

India’s domestic air passenger growth robust in Sept (The Indian Express)

⁠India’s domestic aviation market recorded an 8.1% year-on-year growth in September 2024, with 1.32 crore passengers, surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 15.2%, according to ICRA. The rating agency also reported a 7.3% increase in Indian carriers’ capacity deployment and a 5.6% rise in domestic air traffic during H1 FY2025, highlighting the sector’s rapid recovery from the pandemic. ICRA maintains a “stable” outlook for the aviation industry, expecting moderate growth and a stable cost environment in FY25.