India to be key driver of global oil demand in coming decades: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan

economy

Sep 11, 04:09

India's fuel demand has almost recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels and the nation will experience the fastest growth in energy consumption among all large economies in the coming decades, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

In October local sales of gasoline, gasoil and cooking gas in India, the world's third biggest oil consumer and importer, rose from year-ago levels, Mr Pradhan said oil conference ADIPEC.

He said India's share of global energy consumption was set to rise from the current 7 percent to 12 percent by 2050.

economy

What are remittances?

Sep 01, 03:09

Remittances refer to money sent by migrant workers to their home countries. For many low income and developing countries, this is an importance source of foreign capital second only to development aid. While India is the recipient of large capital flows from investors who want to buy equity shares or build factories here, remittances still make for a significant portion of foreign capital. Indeed, India is the largest recipient of remittances. With COVID-19 gripping the world, these flows are set to dip in 2020. Some states such as Kerala (which accounts for 20 percent of inflows into India) will feel the pain more.

business

H-1B, no longer as coveted by Indians?

Sep 01, 03:09

For India's top IT services firms, dependence on H-1B has been falling over the last three years as they stepped up on local hiring. From close to 60,000 in FY16, the applications for the once-coveted visa have now come down to 30,000 in FY19. This was in part in response to the increased rejections these companies faced under the Donald Trump administration since 2017. According to a report by US immigration policy think tank National Foundation for American Policy, of the top 25 H-1B employers, Indian IT services firms saw the highest denial rates for fresh H-1B petitions ranging anywhere between 15 percent and 59 percent in between October and March FY20 compared to FY15.

personal-finance

Despite rate cut, PPF remains attractive. Why?

Sep 01, 03:09

The Public Provident Fund is a favoured investment as it offers tax benefits like Section 80 C tax deduction, tax-free interest that is re-invested and the redemption is also tax-free. But over the years, since 2011 to be precise, the interest rates have been pegged to government securities. A look at the PPF interest rates over the past years show declining interest rates, although on occasion the rates have marginally gone up. At 7.1 percent current, the PPF, still, offers among the best interest rates in small savings investment basket. Typically, the interest rates of PPF is linked to government security yields.