Countries with which India has entered into FTA & PTA

The details of countries with which India has entered into Free Trade Agreement (FTA):

ECONOMIC (Opinion): Strategic Oil Reserves - India Vs. Glob

• Britain is poised to cooperate with the US on a release of strategic oil stocks that is expected within months. 
• This would assist in a bid to prevent fuel prices from choking economic growth in the US during an election year. 
• Other countries may also be approached by Washington to contribute, Japan being one of them.

India (far behind):

India has begun the development of a strategic crude oil reserve sized at 37,400,000 barrels (5,950,000 m³), enough for two weeks of consumption. Petroleum stocks have been transferred from the Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) to the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB). The OIDB then created the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) to serve as the controlling government agency for the strategic reserve.

The facilities are:

·         Mangalore, State of Karnataka. Capacity of 11.22 million barrels (1,784,000 m³).

·         Padur village, Udipi in the state of Karnataka. Capacity of 18.7 million barrels (2,970,000 m³).

·         Visakhapatnam, State of Andhra Pradesh. Capacity of 7.48 million barrels (1,189,000 m³).

On 21st December 2011, it was announced that India planned to greatly augment their crude reserve capacity to 132 million barrels by 2020, a senior oil ministry official stated.

Present Status:

On 15th, March 2012, The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri R.P.N. Singh informed that as on 1.4.2011, recoverable reserves of crude oil in the country is assessed at 757.4 million metric tonne (MMT) by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC), Oil India Ltd. (OIL) and Private/Joint venture companies. These reserves are continuously undergoing change on account of accretion of new reserves as a result of success in exploration and due to production on a continuous basis. 

Further, in view of the growth in the economy, indigenous production of crude oil is not adequate for the energy needs of the country at present, the Minister added. 

He further stated that the peak of crude oil production have been estimated and reported differently over the time. He also said that International Energy Agency in World Energy Outlook, 2011says that “Proven reserves of oil increased to 1.47 trillion barrels at the end of 2010 according to the Oil and Gas Journal or 48 years production at existing level. Remaining recoverable resources are estimated to be much larger and could reach nearly 5.5 trillion barrels.”

The Minister stressed that in order to provide momentum to exploration and  production in the country, Government has adopted multi-prong strategy which inter-alia includes: 

(i) increasing hydrocarbon exploration and production in the country, 

(ii) Development of unconventional sources of hydrocarbon and 

(iii) Acquisition of overseas oil and gas assets by Indian companies.

He also informed that the Government is setting up the underground strategic storage in the form of rock cavern with total storage capacity of 5.33 MMT at 3 locations viz., Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and one each in Mangalore & Padur in Karnataka. The projects are expected to be commissioned in a phased manner from April, 2013 onwards. The break-up of strategic oil reserves capacity is as under:

Sl. No.	Location	Capacity (MMT)
1	Vishakhapatnam	1.33
2	Mangalore	1.50
3	Padur	2.50

In addition, feasibility study for about 12.5 MMT strategic oil reserves is in progress in the states of Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Odisha,” he added. 

   

UPSCpedia: Economedia - Black Money

Indian black money

• The total amount of black money deposited in foreign banks by Indians is unknown, but one estimate by Professor R Vaidyanathan at Indian Institutes of Management estimated the total at over 7,280,000 Crores (US$1.4 trillion).
• Black money refers to funds earned on the black market, on which income and other taxes has not been paid.
• In January 2011 the Supreme Court of India asked why the names of those who have stashed money in the Liechtenstein Bank have not been disclosed.
  

Economedia: Subprime & Teaser Loans

Subprime Loan

• A type of loan that is offered at a rate above prime to individuals who do not qualify for prime rate loans.

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Union budget of India

• The Union Budget of India, referred to as the annual Financial Statement in Article 112 of the Constitution of India.

UPSCpedia: Economedia: India @ Five Year Plan

UPSCpedia: Economedia: MFI & NBFC - now RBI's new NBFC-MFI

Microfinance

• Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Cooperative Societies

Cooperative

• A cooperative is defined by the International Cooperative Alliance's Statement on the Cooperative

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Unemployement - India Vs. World

• Unemployment as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks.
• In a 2011 news story, BusinessWeek reported, "More than 200 million people globally are out of work, a record high, as almost two-thirds of advanced economies and half of developing countries are experiencing a slowdown in employment growth, the group said."
  

UPSCpedia: Economedia: External Commercial Borrowings

• External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) include bank loans, suppliers' and buyers'  credits, fixed and floating rate bonds (without convertibility) and borrowings from  private sector windows of multilateral Financial Institutions such as International  Finance Corporation.
• In India, External Commercial Borrowings are being permitted by the Government for providing an additional source of funds toIndian corporates and PSUs for financing expansion of existing capacity and as well as for fresh investment, to augment theresources available domestically.

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)

• Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or new location, without creating a subsidiary, other child entity or using a joint venture.
• An acquisition is the purchase of one business or company by another company or other business entity. While merger occurs when two companies combine together to form a new

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Asian financial crisis - 1997

• The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of Asia beginning in July 1997, and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion.
• The crisis started in Thailand
• At the time, Thailand had acquired a burden of foreign debt that made the country effectively bankrupt even before the collapse of its currency.
• Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand were the countries most affected by the crisis. 

  • Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines were also hurt by the slump. 

  • The People's Republic of China, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam were less affected, although all suffered from a loss of demand and confidence throughout the region.
• Foreign debt-to-GDP ratios rose from 100% to 167% in the four large Association of Southeast Asian Nations economies in 1993–96, then shot up beyond 180% during the worst of the crisis.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in to initiate a $40 billion program to stabilize the currencies of South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia, economies particularly hard hit by the crisis.

   

  

  
  

  

   

   

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Newly industrialized country

• The category of newly industrialized country (NIC) is a socioeconomic classification applied to several countries around the world by political scientists and economists.
• NICs are countries whose economies have not yet reached First World status but have, in a macroeconomic sense, outpaced their developing counterparts.
• In many NICs, social upheaval can occur as primarily rural, or agricultural, populations migrate to the cities, where the growth of manufacturing concerns and factories can draw many

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Foreign direct investment

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.
• It usually involves participation in management, joint-venture, transfer of technology and expertise.

UPSCpedia: Economedia: National Sample Survey Office

• The National Sample Survey Organisation, now National Sample Survey Office is an organization in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
• The National Sample Survey (NSS), initiated in the year 1950, In March 1970, the NSS was reorganised and all aspects of its work were brought under a single Government organisation, namely the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
• The Governing Council consisted of experts from within and outside the Government and was headed by an eminent economist/statistician

UPSCpedia: Economedia: Competition Commission of India

• It was established on 14 October, 2003.
• The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.
• The main objective of competition law is to promote economic efficiency using competition as one of the means of assisting the creation of market responsive to consumer preferences.

UPSCpedia: Economedia - Foreign Institutional Investor

• FII is used to denote an investor- mostly of the form of an institutional entity, which invests money in the financial markets of a country different from the one where in the institution or entity was originally incorporated
• FII investment is frequently referred to as hot money for the reason that it can leave the country at the same speed at which it comes in.
• Foreign institutional investors have gained a significant role in Indian capital markets. Availability of foreign capital depends on many firm specific factors other than economic development of the country.

UPSCpedia: Economedia - Securities and Exchange Board of India

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India is the regulator for the securities market in India.
• It was formed officially by the Government of India in 1992 with SEBI Act 1992
• SEBI is headquartered in the business district of in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western regional offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
  

UPSCpedia: Economedia - Economic Indicators:

• Marginal Standing Facility Rate :  Under this scheme, Banks will be able to borrow upto 1% of their respective Net Demand and Time Liabilities". The rate of interest on the amount accessed   from this facility will be 100 basis points (i.e. 1%)  above the repo rate. This scheme is likely to reduce volatility in the overnight rates and improve monetary transmission.

  
  

  In the policy statement RBI has also declared "The stance of monetary policy is, among other things, to manage liquidity to ensure that it remains broadly in balance, with neither a large surplus diluting monetary transmission nor a large deficit choking off fund flows."
  

UPSCpedia: Economedia - Reserve Bank of India

• The Reserve Bank of India is the central banking institution of India and controls the monetary policy of the rupee as well as US$ 300.21 billion (2010) of currency reserves.
• The institution was established on 1 April 1935
• Reserve Bank of India was nationalised in the year 1949.
• It is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union.