Indian inflation fell back again in the last week of October, as energy and commodity prices continued to fall, and the impact of the global financial turmoil and credit crunch ricocheted its way across one country after another. The IMF last week forecast annual growth for India of 6.3% in 2008 while India’s manufacturing expansion, [...]
Did you know that the Indian government imposes a cess on indigenously produced crude oil? The Oil Industry Development Act, 1974 based on which the cess is being [...]
The government has now announced that it will issue oil bonds worth Rs 94,600 crore in the fiscal year 2008-09. If the revenue collection rises at the same rate, it would be to the tune of around Rs 77,000 crore in 2008-09. The subsidy for kerosene and LPG is at around Rs 3000 crore. So, the government will suffer a net loss of nearly Rs 20,000 crore in providing petroleum products to the citizens of India. Phew! 0.4% of GDP wiped out in one go.
Mohit Satyanand
Though I have never invested in the shares of Reliance Industries, my recently gleaned understanding of the world petroleum scenario has made me respect the company’s vision in its refining projects. As I mentioned once earlier, RIL’s existing refinery, and the one nearing construction, reportedly have unparalleled flexibility to process heavy, high-sulphur (so-called sour) [...]
Earlier post on the subject: Oil Pricing in India
Vikram S Mehta, chairman of the Shell Group of companies in India, provides the structure of the price build up for petrol and diesel by the public sector companies in India.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) calculates inter alia the landed import duty paid price of petrol and diesel [...]
V Anantha Nageswaran
What is interesting in Daniel Yergin’s FT piece is that he deftly sidesteps the question of predicting the future for oil price—near-term or in the long-term. In recent years, he has been proven wrong. His Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) has been bearish on oil since 2004-05.
More important rather than interesting are his [...]
V Anantha Nageswaran
A table of inflation rates in many countries around the world is beginning to reveal a disturbing picture. The lowest rate is found in Germany – at 3.0%. Many emerging countries that seem to be doing a truthful job are reporting inflation rates in excess of 10% and some in excess of 20%. [...]
The economic benefits of a space program are a continuous source of debate. In India there is the constant suggestion that the thousands of crores spent on ISRO’s adventures should be utilized elsewhere. Here are some thoughts on why a space program makes economic sense.
Everyone knows that a space program offers great advantages from a [...]
The crude oil prices have finally touched $100 per barrel – a psychological barrier and a statistical inanity. The composition of Indian crude basket represents average of Oman & Dubai for sour grades and Brent (dated) for sweet grade in the ratio of 59.8:40.2 since April 2006. The Indian crude basket has touched a high [...]
Before the issue of the historicity of the characters in the Ramayana came along to cloud the issue, much of the public debate hovered around political and environmental issues.
Neither the commercial viability, nor the putative military strategic benefits, were adequately scrutinised.
The commercial case for the project rests on the time and cost saved due [...]
The FT has a very illuminating article on the politics of climate change. It is illuminating because it brings a perspective to the debate that has sadly been lacking so far – one of pragmatic international relations. Taking that perspective explains why the US, China and other major polluters have not signed on to any [...]
Pragati – The Indian National Interest Review is a monthly magazine on strategic affairs and public policy; and is devoted to promoting economic freedom, an open society and realism in international relations. It regularly features articles and essays from many IEB bloggers.
You can download and subscribe to the free digital community edition of the [...]
Once again, the petroleum minister Murli Deora has requested the finance minister to issue oil bonds. In what is becoming common practice now, the money thus raised is going to be used to “compensate the firms for selling below cost”.
For starters, this move is simply bad financial practice, for it violates one of the basic [...]
The share of the global economy belonging to emerging markets is increasing. According to Yahoo! Finance, Goldman Sachs has a new report indicating that the BRIC countries’ share of the global energy industry is now higher than that of the U.S.:
At the end of the first Gulf War in 1991, 55 percent of the 20 [...]
Following my previous post on climate change, Nitin pointed me to a paper in the EPW on mitigating climate change in India (also available at GDNet). The authors analyze the impact of economic instruments such as a carbon tax on carbon emissions to conclude that, “the amount of reduction of carbon emissions is not substantial enough [...]
Powered by WordPress