There’s good news for India’s biggest company. The standoff between Reliance Industries and the petroleum ministry of the KG D6 gas field could soon come to an end. The management committee for D6 has given conditional approval for the field’s budget and work plans. It has also resolved the so-called declaration of commerciality dispute over RIL’s three wells in the KG basin. The declarations are recognition that the blocks are commercially viable and can be developed. In return for these concessions, RIL will have to provide the Comptroller and Auditor General’s office access to records for the D-6 block. The dispute had arisen after a CAG report said RIL had violated the terms of its contract with the government. Meanwhile RIL saw gas output from D6 fall, even as it claimed deductions for developing the field.
In politics, India has chosen its vice-president. Hamid Ansari was re-elected by Parliament to the post of vice-president on Tuesday. He won 490 votes out of the 736 that were cast.
Standard Chartered’s troubles in the U-S have wreaked havoc on its IDRs in India. The bank’s Indian Depository Receipts plunged by the daily limit of 20% on Tuesday to 83.15 on the BSE. IDRs reflect ownership in a specified number of equity shares in a company. And with Standard Chartered’s shares plummeting in London, the IDRs followed them down. The bank is in trouble after the New York state government threatened to revoke its banking license over transactions related to Iran.
