Category: South Asia

Print Back to story There hasn’t been a better time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deregulate diesel prices. Oil prices are near a four-year low and two major state elections are out of the way. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has called on Modi to “seize this moment” while inflation is the lowest in three years and refiners are selling at a profit for the first time in recent memory. “There’s absolutely no reason for the government not to deregulate — it’s probably the easiest thing they can do, a low-hanging fruit,” Upasna Bhardwaj, an economist at ING Vysya Bank Ltd., a unit of the biggest Dutch financial-services company, said by phone from Mumbai. “The markets have been awaiting reforms, and there has been nothing big, so if they fail to do this it will be treated very negatively.” Steps to dismantle India’s subsidies would build […]

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In a blow to American hopes of reaching an international deal to fight global warming, India’s new environment minister said Wednesday that his country would not offer a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a climate summit next year in Paris. The minister, Prakash Javadekar, said in an interview that his government’s first priority was to alleviate poverty and improve the nation’s economy, which he said would necessarily involve an increase in emissions through new coal-powered electricity and transportation. He placed responsibility for what scientists call a coming climate crisis on the United States, the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas polluter, and dismissed the idea that India would make cuts to carbon emissions. “What cuts?” Mr. Javadekar said. “That’s for more developed countries. The moral principle of historic responsibility cannot be washed away.” Mr. Javadekar was referring to an argument frequently made by developing economies — […]

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NEW DELHI—India’s power minister said Sunday that the country isn’t on the verge of an electricity crisis even though many of its power plants are running low on coal.  Piyush Goyal —who concurrently heads the ministries for power, coal and renewable energy—told reporters Sunday that power plants are facing coal shortages because they are producing more electricity to make up for shortfalls in the yearly monsoon rains, which have crimped generation by hydroelectric power plants.  Generation by coal-powered stations between June and August was around 21% higher than in the same period last year, Mr. Goyal said. But domestic coal production and imports haven’t kept up , which has forced plants to use up their inventories. "You will appreciate that when you produce 20% more power whereas your supply has gone up by only 5% or 6%, the stocks are bound to fall," he said.  He said that stronger rains […]

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is closer to scrapping controls on diesel prices that led to $66 billion of losses on sales of the fuel in the past decade. The loss has fallen to 0.08 rupees (less than 1 U.S. cent) a liter from 13.4 rupees in September last year after Modi continued with gradual price increases that began in January 2013, Oil Ministry data show. The ministry will seek Cabinet approval to remove diesel controls once losses end, one of its officials with direct knowledge of the matter said last week, while requesting anonymity citing rules. Modi is vying with counterparts including Indonesian President-elect Joko Widodo to woo investors by curbing petroleum subsidies, which frees up funds to invest in infrastructure for faster growth. The government and state-run crude producer Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) bore the brunt of the 4 trillion-rupee cost of cushioning diesel in […]

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Day laborers load coal onto a truck at the Goladi coal depot, operated by Coal India Ltd. subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL), in Jharia, Jharkhand, India, on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Coal India, the world’s largest producer, estimates on its website that the nation faces a supply deficit of 350 million tons by 2016-2017, thereby overtaking import demand from China, the world’s biggest coal consumer and producer. Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg “Coal is king and paramount lord of industry,” wrote India’s Supreme Court this week. Few in the country’s fuel-starved industrial economy would disagree – hence the dismay that followed when the court ruled as illegal every coal licence given to private sector companies for the past two decades. Since 2012, the threat of sanction has hung over many prominent businesses in sectors such as power and steelmaking, which had been handed exclusive use of so-called “captive” coal mines […]

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British Deputy Prime Minister said energy and climate change would be near the top of his agenda during a three-day visit to India. "There is already $26.5 billion of trade every year between India and the U.K.," he said before leaving Monday. "India invests more in the UK than it does in the rest of the European Union combined, and no country in the G20 invests more in India than Britain does." The deputy prime minister led a delegation to India this week to discuss British opportunities in the growing Indian economy . His office said climate change and energy were expected to be near the top of the agenda for this week’s meetings. A report from financial firm Dun & Bradstreet said last week the Indian gross domestic product should grow by 5.5 percent next year, up from the 5.2 percent expected this year. Dun & Bradstreet India […]

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Miners haul baskets full of coal as they load a truck in the northeastern state of Meghalaya, in this file photo. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images NEW DELHI—India’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that all coal-mining licenses distributed since 1993 are illegal, dealing a significant blow to operators and providing another setback to the image of the country’s administration. The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha said the allotments by past governments weren’t carried out in a transparent manner and no objective criteria were followed. Guidelines were also breached, it added. However, the court didn’t immediately cancel the 200 or so licenses given out since 1993 whose fate now hangs in the balance. "Further hearing is required to determine whether there is a need for canceling all the coal block allocations," the bench said in the order. It will next hear the case on Sept. 1. The order follows […]

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India ranks among the top energy consumers in the world, with demand increasing at a double-digit rate, analysis from the U.S. Energy Department found. The Energy Information Administration, a division within the Energy Department, said economic growth and modernization in India is leading to increased demand for energy . "India’s dependence on imported fossil fuels rose to 38 percent in 2012, despite the country having significant domestic fossil fuel resources," EIA said in a Thursday brief. The government in April said it expected natural gas demand to more than double by the beginning of the next decade. According to the terms of a five-year energy plan , the Indian government has said it wants to add at least one transnational pipeline to the midstream sector from either Iran, Oman or Central Asia. "Because India has not been able to produce an adequate supply of domestic natural gas and has […]

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