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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: k.ramesh who wrote (630)	5/15/1998 8:25:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 12475

Believe it or not. Ramesh: First some facts. 1. Approx.35-40% of India's energy needs are met by domestic production. There is ample scientific evidence now that she can meet 100% of the needs if the government get off its ass and do something about it like rapid deployment and implementation of pragmatic policies. Some 30% or so of available energy is wasted for lack of poor,inept or corrupt management. India spends 24 billion dollars or so per year now for importing crude and other related products and this is the only major expenditure in hard currency which is currently met by export revenues. 2. It is estimated that NRIs have some +300 billion dollars in assets but but much of it invested in other countries in various forms due to the governments half-ass policies thus far.But still during the early 90s when India was about to default on her loans it was the NRIs who came through to some extent. Since then the NRIs investments accounts for a great portion of the governments foreign currency reserve in one form or the other.It should be easier for a government with a vision, ideas and willingness to execute policies that can help the country, to attract a heck of lot more money. Still the Mittals,Ambujas and Swaraj Paul of the Caparo Group of UK and many others of that caliber including less wealthy NRIs have invested a lot of money in the country perhaps not as much as the Overseas Chinese Residents. There has always been a coordinated effort from the heavy weight NRIs from the UK,USA,Thailand,Africa,Hong Kong,Malaysia etc to help the country,and a lot of them have already invested lot of money in plant and equipment by starting many businesses.If the current government plays their card right a lot of things can be done by these people.The NRIs of a 'lesser' caliber are doing their thing knowingly or not and a lot of others are investing in various forms as well,in wind energy,power generation,software enterprises,real estate investments,hospitals,and other businesses. But with this recent euphoria about the 'bomb' thing and sanctions etc a lot more are a coming together in a much bigger way to find ways to help the country get through in a difficult situation. I am sure many of you know much more about this sort of thing than I and I hope you put down your thoughts here so we know what is going on.

To: k.ramesh who wrote (630)	5/16/1998 10:43:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Sanctions,what sanctions??? U.S companies grab majority of the contracts. Source: Economic Times. [For Private use only.] US companies grab major chunk of oil exploration contracts Our New Delhi Bureau ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW DELHI 15 MAY IN A clever move to combine tough rhetoric with an attempt to build a pro-India lobby of American companies, the government has rushed through a decision to sign production sharing contracts (PSCs) for 18 exploration blocks, 11 of which are with US petroleum companies. Apart from expediting private investments in the hydrocarbon sector, the decision seems to have the strategic objective of creating a large group of American companies with a stake in India. It is hoped that these companies will persuade Washington to soften its stand towards New Delhi. Following a PMO directive, which called expediting foreign investments in the core sector, most nodal ministries have taken far-reaching decisions in the past two days. Although the petroleum ministry was deliberating over the pending PSCs for some time now, the urgency to act is now apparent. The government is seeking to ensure that imposition of economic sanctions by the US and other developed countries does not delay project schedules. Towards that goal, the government is already working on other funding arrangements. Plus there is an attempt to pile up as much private investments as is possible. The PSCs for the 18 exploration blocks pertain to the fourth round of bidding for which the blocks had been awarded way back in 1994. In fact, the petroleum ministry which has identified the upstream sector as one of the key areas where investments by the private sector need to come, has been trying to resolve the contentious issue and decide on the PSCs. The necessary inter-ministerial consultations with law, finance and environment have been completed and all the issues have since been attended to. The petroleum ministry issued letters to the petroleum companies who have been awarded the contracts and are now poised to sign the PSC on Thursday. The issues which had held back the signing of the PSCs include sales tax payment, audit practice, liability of the sub-contractor, etc. Finalisation of the contracts is expected to give a boost to the exploration efforts in the country and will bring in an investment of about $40 million, including investments of about $25 million of foreign investments in the first phase itself. Positive results of the initial exploration in these acreages would lead to further investment. Since the fourth round of bidding for exploration blocks in 1991 PSCs have been signed for nine exploration blocks covering an area of about 100,000 square kms spread over in Rajasthan, Gujarat Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Of the nine blocks, four are onshore and five are offshore blocks. Of the 18 exploration blocks to be signed, US alone would be exploring oil fields of 31,610 sq km in Gujarat, western offshore and Tripura. Videocon international has tied up with Command Petroleum of Australia to explore an area of 7,000 sq km off the eastern coast, while Medallion Oil Company of the US has joined hands with Assam Company Ltd to explore an area of 1,800 sq kilometres in Assam and Nagaland.