NEW DELHI (www.essar.com) -- Since Indian finance minister started his budget speech with soaring international oil prices as a major factor in the state of health of the economy, the petroleum industry deserved a serious focus in government’s budget policies.

This, unfortunately, has not happened and some serious issues, like subsidies, have not been addressed, said Suresh Mathur, Essar Group.

The Essar official was, however, critical of the fact that recommendations of the Rangarajan committee also find no place in the budget speech in order to address the crisis facing the industry. Increase in crude processing from Rs.1800 per ton to Rs.2500 per ton will prove negative for crude processors.

New oil blocks for NELP-6 welcome On the positive side, the government’s decision to increase the number of oil blocks to 56 for NELP-6 is encouraging for future oil and gas discoveries in the country, Mathur opined, adding “The FM’s announcement about giving some incentives for refineries and pipelines is welcome.”

The industry will wait for details of the policy with eagerness. Also K. Srivastava, managing director of Essar Power said government has given a thrust to power generation/transmission/distribution which is a welcome step.

“However, industry was expecting reduction in customs duty on power plant equipment other than mega power projects has not been provided.”

Increase of MAT from 7.5% to 10% would affect the profitability of power companies, he concluded.