Friday, August 28
The government has notified the new Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 2025, bringing into force a modern regulatory framework aimed at attracting investment and improving ease of doing business in the oil and gas sector.The rules, issued under the recently approved Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 2025, replace the earlier system of multiple licences with a single petroleum lease covering exploration, development and production of all hydrocarbons, including shale, according to a gazette notification.The new framework provides lease tenures of up to 30 years, extendable for the full economic life of a field, with terms protected from adverse changes. Criminal penalties for violations have been removed and replaced with higher financial penalties of Rs 25 lakh, plus Rs 1
The US should sign the trade agreement with India if Washington is happy with what has been offered by New Delhi, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.Welcoming US trade representative Jamieson Greer’s comment that the US has received the “best ever” offer from India, Goyal said, “I do believe that if they are very happy, they should be signing on the dotted lines.”He, however, refrained from giving a deadline for the signing of the long-awaited Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) between the two nations.Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai, the minister said there have been five rounds of negotiations with the US on the trade deal.His statement came as US officials concluded a two-day visit to India to take forward bilateral talks.Goyal said US dep
The Union Cabinet on Friday cleared a Bill to repeal 71 laws which have outlived their utility in the statute books, officials said. Out of the 71 laws, 65 are amendments to principal Acts and six are principal laws. At least one law proposed to be repealed is of the British era, the officials said. The proposed repeal and amendment bill is not aimed at striking off colonial laws but to remove Acts which have outlived their utility, an official said. "Once an amendment is passed by Parliament, it gets subsumed in the principal law. It then only clutters the statute books," an official explained.So far, 1,562 old archaic laws have been repealed.
ET Intelligence Group: ICICI Prudential AMC plans to raise up to ₹10,600 crore through an offer for sale by Prudential Corp Holdings. The promoter shareholding will decline to 90.1% from 100% after the IPO. The issue is priced at the upper end of sector valuations, reflecting the company's strong growth in assets under management and a rising investor base. However, the company's performance relies heavily on retail investors and is exposed to market volatility. Given these factors, the issue looks suitable for investors with a high risk appetite and a long-term investment horizon. Business Incorporated in 1993, ICICI Prudential AMC offers portfolio management services (PMS), alternative investment fund (AIF), and advisory services. It is the largest AMC in India in terms of active mutua
Mumbai: Continued stress in the credit card segment has prompted caution among several large and mid-sized lenders. Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank and IndusInd Bank have slowed new credit card issuances, according to the Reserve Bank of India data. This contrasts with the approach taken by larger peers such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, which have continued to aggressively expand their credit card portfolios.An ET analysis showed that in October, Kotak Mahindra Bank saw a net addition of 765 cards, while RBL Bank saw a steep decline of about 18,211 cards. IndusInd Bank also reported a contraction, with its card base shrinking by more than 1,228 cards.Meanwhile, major issuers continued to scale up. HDFC Bank added about 1,44,000 lakh cards in October, SBI Card added about 1,27,000,
Mumbai: India's equity indices rose about 0.5% Thursday, snapping a three-day losing streak after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rates by 25 basis points. Analysts said while this may be a near-term positive for the markets, an impending US-India trade deal would continue to weigh on sentiments over the next few weeks. NSE's Nifty rose 140 points, or 0.55%, to close at 25,898. BSE's Sensex rose 426 points, or 0.5%, to end at 84,818. "The US Federal Reserve's rate cut on Wednesday provided a modest positive cue, prompting a rebound in the markets," said Pankaj Pandey, head of fundamental research at ICICI Direct. Pandey said the Nifty has declined for three consecutive weeks following its all-time highs, largely due to delays in the India-US trade deal.125923459 "If the agreeme
