Oil Market

Just a couple of decades ago, India's edible oil imports were around 4 million tonnes a year. This figure has grown exponentially over the decades and now stands at 14.03 million tonnes (oil year ending October 31, 2022). This adds up to an import bill of INR 1.57 lakh crore, which represents an enormous depletion of our precious foreign exchange reserves.

According to official figures, the OMCs exported 668 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) of petrol in 2021-22, which was 142 per cent more than 276 TMT of petrol exported by the country in 2020-21. In 2020-21, the OMCs exported 1,985 TMT of diesel, while in 2021-22, it exported 1,994 TMT of diesel, a growth of less than 1 per cent over the previous year.

According to Petroleum Ministry sources, petrol prices stood at Rs 81.06 per litre in October 2020, however by October 2022, they had risen only 19.3 per cent to Rs 96.72 per litre. Similarly diesel prices, which were at Rs 70.53 per litre in October 2020, rose by 27.1 per cent to stand at Rs 89.62 per litre.

The trade deficit narrowed month-on-month (MoM) in November to $23.89 billion as against $27.58 billion in October, while up only 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY), said Amnish Aggarwal, Head-Research, Prabhudas Lilladher.

"In order not to depend on the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in the European Union and Britain, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak has offered India cooperation on leasing and building large-capacity ships," reports quoting the Russian embassy in New Delhi said. Novak met Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pavan Kapoor on Friday, as per the statement.

"India's smartwatch market grew 171 per cent (year-over-year) in Q3 2022 to become the biggest market in the world. The main factor behind the record quarter was India's festive season. Indian brands expanding their product portfolios at affordable price points and emphasis on local manufacturing also contributed to the growth," said Senior Analyst Anshika Jain.

Hardeep Puri, who was interacting with the media on the sidelines of a function commemorating the World LPG Week, in response to a question on Russian oil company Gazprom not supplying liquified natural gas to GAIL, said that this discussion has been going on between GAIL and Gazprom.

According to Counterpoint Research, India's smartwatch market grew 312 per cent (year-on-year) in Q2 2022. Noise captured the second spot with a 26 per cent share and registered 293 per cent (year-on-year) growth. The brand has ramped up its domestic production in the second quarter and contributed 3/4th of the locally manufactured smartwatches.

According to the index of eight core industries data released on Monday, the production growth of eight infrastructure sectors was 9.6 per cent during April-September period of the current fiscal, compared to 16.9 per cent growth in the corresponding period of last year.

The investment, said the company, will enable it to accelerate its plans to attain leadership in the smartwatches category, scale up its business both within and outside India and further strengthen its R&D and design capabilities.