India’s import bill for natural gas surged by 18.5% to $7.7 billion during the first half of the current fiscal compared with $6.5 billion in the same period a year ago due to a rise in consumption particularly by the city gas distribution (CGD) companies and the power sector, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.
The import bill for the month of September stood at $1.2 billion against $1.1 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
In volume term, the country imported 18,975 million standard cubic meters of LNG (liquified natural gas) during April to September, up by 23% from the corresponding period of FY24, the data showed. The growth was also supported by stabilised prices of natural gas from the earlier highs recorded in FY23, enabling consumers to buy more imported gas, as per analysts.
Also Read PM Awas Yojana 2.0: Govt can withdraw your home loan subsidy if THESE lapses found – Check details Uncontrolled F&O trading has grown 45x in 5 yrs, SEBI must reveal names of ‘big players’, says Rahul Gandhi Natural gas imports up 13% to $6.1 bn in Apr-Aug as demand rises PM Modi US Visit Highlights: PM Modi arrives in New York following Quad Meeting, meets members of Indian Diaspora
The country’s dependence on imported gas increased to 51.5% in the period from 46.8% in April-Sep tember of FY24. In the month of September alone, the import dependency surged to 49.7% against 46.5% in September 2023. CareEdge Ratings expects the country’s gas import dependency to remain at around 45% by FY26.
Also Read83% of Indian businesses see tech risks as a major threat: Report
One of the key agendas of the government has been to boost domestic production of crude oil and natural gas, and thereby reduce the country’s dependency for energy. However, the domestic production of crude oil and natural gas has remained stagnant and the country’s import dependency has only increased.
While the government has expressed its willingness to give more incentives to the global energy giants to encourage them to invest in oil and gas exploration in Indian territory, experts remained cautiously optimistic about the plan. They suggested more flexible work prgrammes, waiver of goods and service tax (GST) on capital equipment,
» Read More
