ONGC is willing to join hands with any party who can help us monetise discoveries quickly and enhance recovery in all areas, while stake in deep-sea blocks will depend on partners bringing high-end technology and de-risking, chairman Arun Kumar Singh tells TOI.
ONGC has been at the receiving end for not moving fast to raise production. How do you plan to change that?
Globally, large discoveries are happening in deep-sea. Our deep-water is not well explored. We are hoping for major deep-water findings soon. We have to be very aggressive in making discoveries. So, we have to ramp up exploration and collaboration. Make decisions fast, explore more and collaborate in all the areas where there is more potential such as the deep-sea in eastern offshore. Second, since (oil) prices are good we have to bring into production our discoveries quickly, either ourselves or through a private partner. Some may also involve foreign partners, based on commercial perspectives such as large capex or high-end technology. This has to be done in the country’s interest. Third, we have to focus on how to maximise production (from existing fields) through collaboration. Globally oil recovery is 30% or more. It is around 26-27% in our case. It is only for difficult deep-water fields that technology experts can help us in the process. Essentially, you bring in anything that could add to the oil recovery process.

Does collaboration mean offering stake in fields?
Talking about a stake in collaboration phase is a far-off question. In cases of some difficult terrains, why not. But then the party has to de-risk us and bring capex, provided it knows better than us. The important thing is we are willing to collaborate and are looking at the India Energy Week as a platform for forging relations.
Is the proposal to offer stake to private entity in Mumbai High still on the table?
Technologically, ONGC is strong in shallow waters. We know Mumbai High like the back of our hands. But if a party can add value to our business (in any field) they are welcome.
There is a fear that private partners will flog the ageing fields to quickly maximising return on investment at the cost of their long-term health…
The focus is to enhance the percentage of recovery and not increasing the rate of production in one year or so. We are talking, say, over 10-15 years. ONGC has to work in the national interest, unlike others who have only commercial interests. We have to figure out ways that cater to the national interest and that is one reason we are looking at collaboration and partnerships in difficult fields.
Last year, ONGC was asked to hive off technical & field services into SBU (special business unit). Is the proposal still on?
What will be the SBU’s goal? SBU cannot be formed until all resources are embedded in it strategically or else business won’t run effectively. ONGC activities have multidisciplinary interdependence. All functional directors are involved in drilling of each single well. It means you are functional at the board level but multifunctional at the delivery level. We need to have 100% control over all resources and functions.
Will the windfall gains tax impact ONGC’s capex plan?
The additional duty has lowered our net realisation from crude and prices. But ONGC will continue to invest around Rs 30,000 crore annually in development and redevelopment of fields.
What is the status of the proposed gas subsidiary?
The Kirit Parikh committee report (on gas pricing) says explicitly that the market will get deregulated in January 2026. Our reading says that the need for a subsidiary will not exist if the government accepts the report. You create a subsidiary only if you see great gains. Subsidiaries bring their own problems.
What is ONGC’s transition roadmap? Will this segment see higher capex allocation going forward?
ONGC is aligning its business values with the government’s thrust on transition. We are pursuing opportunities in a gamut of areas, ranging from geothermal energy, green hydrogen and ammonia, offshore wind to carbon capture. We have enabling MoUs and will give capex push wherever needed.

SHIMLA: Two labourers were killed and another went missing after an avalanche on Shinkula–Darcha road in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday evening.
Three casual labourers got buried in the snow along with snow cutter/dozers as avalanche hit Chika village in the district, officials said.
The bodies of Ram Budha from Nepal and Rakesh from Chamba have been recovered while 27-year-old Passang Chhering Lama, a resident of Nepal, remains missing and feared buried in snow, according to the state emergency operation centre.
A rescue team consisting of police, health officials, and members of district disaster management authority rushed to the spot and began the rescue operation.
The rescue operation was stopped at night as the temperature and visibility dropped.
The rescue operation will be resumed on Monday morning.

NEW DELHI: Viewing the just-concluded Bharat Jodo Yatra as a “success”, civil society groups are set to band together to launch a year-long “grassroots movement” to complement the political fight against the RSS-BJP combine in the 2024 elections. The key strand of the “abhiyan” will be ensuring partnership with, and co-option of, all the scattered protests on jobs, land acquisition and economy, to create an army of volunteers for campaign, and to erect a communications network to counter the ruling camp.
The “abhiyan” strategists say the strength of the voluntary organisations likely to join the proposed platform will go beyond those who aligned with the Kanyakumari-Kashmir march on the request of Rahul Gandhi. The walkathon which drew a big response through its route across 12 states over four months managed to connect with many more groups active on the ground who were not part of the original civil society bloc convened by Yogendra Yadav, and they will now be part of the new endeavour, sources said.
To ensure coordination between civil society and the political class, invitations have been sent to like-minded political parties for a “national convention” to be held in the capital on Monday. Sources said, the political parties to join the convention are Congress, NCP, RJD, CPI, DMK, JDU, CPM and RLD, while SP too has been invited. Rahul Gandhi and Digvijaya Singh, the two brains behind the Bharat Jodo Yatra, are likely to be part of the convention.
Sources said while the parties will be devising their plans to carry forward the mood generated by Yatra, the civil society is mulling a multi-pronged strategy for grassroots mobilisation.

BEIJING: After an American fighter jet shot down the Chinese balloon that had floated across the United States, the reaction from Beijing — defensive, angered, yet hedging its options — illustrated the challenges facing China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as he tries to stabilise relations while giving little, if any, ground.
Hours after the balloon was struck by a Sidewinder missile and crumpled into the waters off South Carolina, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared its “strong discontent and protest” and doubled down on its position that the balloon was a civilian research airship blown way off course by fierce winds. Washington, not Beijing, had broken the rules, the ministry said.
“The Chinese side clearly requested that the U.S. appropriately deal with this in a calm, professional and restrained manner,” said the statement from the Chinese ministry on Sunday. “For the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction.”
Chinese officials had been preparing to host the U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, for talks this week in Beijing aimed at containing tensions over a glut of issues: technology barriers and bans, Western opposition to hard-line Chinese policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and American support for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing has demanded must accept unification. Mr. Blinken pulled out of his trip to China, citing anger over the balloon.
Beijing’s reaction to the bipartisan furor in the United States over the high-altitude balloon suggested that Chinese leaders were baffled that those planned talks in Beijing had been upstaged by what they described as an innocent mistake. But China also suggested that it could somehow retaliate against the American military’s action: The Foreign Ministry noted that it “retains the right to respond further.”
China’s Ministry of National Defense, which speaks for the military, also called the shooting down of the balloon an “excessive reaction.”
Calibrating China’s reaction will be tricky for Mr. Xi.
“China is in a very tight geopolitical spot,” said Evan S. Medeiros, a professor of international politics at Georgetown University who served as President Barack Obama’s top adviser on Asia-Pacific affairs. “They were caught red handed with no place to go. And during a moment when they want to improve relations with many big powers, principally the U.S.”
China’s internet — often an echo chamber for nationalist emotions — resounded with calls for Beijing to stand up to the United States over shooting down of the balloon. And even if Mr. Xi and other Chinese Communist Party leaders can brush off public pressure, their own prickly pride may demand some symbolic countermeasure to save face.
But Mr. Xi has his hands full with domestic strains and may want to avoid another round of tit-for-tat antagonism with the Biden administration. China’s economy is anemic after the abrupt abandonment of Mr. Xi’s strict “zero Covid” policies, and the government is also trying to defuse a longer-term real-estate crisis. The United States’ tightening restrictions on sales of advanced technology to China, especially cutting-edge semiconductors, could hurt Chinese companies and Mr. Xi’s innovation plans.
Since beginning a third five-year term as party leader in October, Mr. Xi has tried to ease tensions with Western countries — including the United States, Australia and European powers — worried that they are coalescing into a firmer alliance committed to containing Chinese power.
“It would be a very poor strategic move on the part of China to really make a big deal out of this,” Oriana Skylar Mastro, a fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, said of the downing of the balloon. “The more they huff and puff, the more it reduces the credibility of their story that this was a civilian weather balloon blown off course.”
Despite its mention of possible further actions, the Chinese government’s response to the balloon’s downing also hinted that it does not want to drag out the dispute. Wording choices in the Foreign Ministry statement hinted that Beijing may keep defending its actions, and denying that the balloon was a vehicle for spying, while holding back from reactions that could escalate the dispute.
Notably, the Chinese statement accused the United States of violating international norms by shooting down the balloon, but did not mention any claimed violation of international law. China also said that it would “defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved” with the balloon, which could help it make a case that the government was not directly involved in launching the balloon.
The wording “reflects that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not believe downing the balloon is a clear legal violation,” Julian Ku, a professor of law at Hofstra University who studies China’s role in international law, wrote in emailed answers to questions.
“The ministry will say if something is a violation of international law, so it is significant they did not say so here,” he said.
“Moreover, they need to think about their own rights in case the U.S. starts sending balloons or drones into China,” Mr. Ku added. “If they push too hard here, it would undermine a future legal argument they might need to make.”
Some in China are calling for a tougher response. After Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the House, visited Taiwan last year, many on the Chinese internet said they were angry that the Chinese air force had not — as one well-known commentator had said was possible — tried to force away her plane. This time, too, some voices on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site, said that their leaders should get tougher; maybe, one bellicose commenter said, by shooting down an American plane.
Chinese leaders have enormous power to channel, or suppress, nationalist rancor, and Mr. Xi in particular has erased the space for spontaneous protests, so there is little chance of such anger pushing them into provocative action. That Mr. Blinken had called Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, about canceling his visit to Beijing indicated that both sides wanted to keep communication going, said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University in eastern China.
But the fraying ties between Beijing and Washington may come under much heavier stress if Kevin McCarthy, the new House speaker, visits Taiwan. Mr. McCarthy had said earlier that he might visit the island upon taking up his role, seeking to demonstrate Washington’s support for Taiwan against threats from China, but he has not announced any firm plans.
“China’s never going to tell me where I can and can’t go,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters last week. “But I have nothing scheduled right now.”
Still, even if the balloon crisis dies down quickly, it has shown how low trust has fallen from the thaw that began when “Ping-Pong diplomacy” helped pave the way for relations in the early 1970s, said Professor Zhu. Back then, American table tennis players visited China for a series of matches that helped eased decades of animosity.
“Over 50 years ago, the ice-melting of our relations began with Ping-Pong diplomacy,” Professor Zhu said, echoing a quip that has spread on the Chinese internet. “It was a small ball that started it, and now our relations are in trouble over a big ball or balloon. I never expected this metaphor could happen.”

MUMBAI: With credit growth continuing to race ahead much faster than deposits, the Reserve Bank of India is expected to hike rates by 25 basis points this week, its last hike for the current economic cycle. The central bank would also need to hike rates to keep up with global central banks as the US Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England all raised interest rates last month.
Last month RBI governor Shaktianta Das hinted at policy pivot with rates plateauing. “Central banks have started what appears to be a pivot towards lower rate hikes or pauses. At the same time, they continue to emphatically reiterate their resolve to bring inflation down closer to targets. High policy rates for a longer duration appear to be a distinct possibility going forward,” Das said speaking at the bond dealers conference in Dubai on January 27. The governor will announce the Monetary Policy Committee decision on rates on February 8.
According to Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda, the monetary policy committee would persist with another rate hike to bring the repo rate to 6.5% (from 6.25% at present) for this cycle before a pause. The government’s decision to stick with fiscal consolidation will make the MPC’s task easier. “The government borrowing programme is unlikely to pressurize liquidity in an unusual manner as it has been retained at the FY 23 level. Deposits growth should get better which should add to liquidity. With the economy slowing down growth in credit would also tend to be moderated to a lower level of around 11-13% in FY24,” said Sabnavis.
The year-on-year growth in bank credit is 16.5% as against 10% for bank deposits.
In the past RBI has said that its rate hikes will take a few quarters to have an impact. However, a 25-basis point hike is seen as a certainty as its target of 4% is still far with December inflation coming in at 5.72%. “With the 4% target not in sight, we expect the RBI to hike rates by 25bp in the upcoming policy meeting, taking the repo rate to 6.5%. With growth slowing, we expect no future rate hikes (although risks remain). And because core inflation will likely remain elevated, we expect no rate cuts either in FY24,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief economist India, HSBC.
Rahul Bajoria, economist with Barclays concurs with the view that the MPC will hike rates by 25 basis points and that this would be last hike in this cycle. “We also think it is likely that the policy stance will be changed to neutral, where it was last in December 2018, when the repo was 6.50%. Furthermore, inflation has begun to moderate and appears set to drop further in coming months,” said Bajoria.

AGARTALA: At least 13 people were wounded on Saturday evening in poll-related violence in Tripura as BJP workers allegedly attacked and torched two booth offices of opposition CPM in Khowai and Unakoti districts of the northeastern state that votes a new assembly on February 16.
This happened on a night police arrested Shivayn Das, BJP’s youth president in Majlishpur constituency, for allegedly attacking a CPM rally at Sachindra Colony. He has been accused of preventing CPM and Congress workers from attending the election rally and assaulting them.
Police said two separate cases were registered in connection with the booth violence in which six motorbikes were also destroyed. Nobody has been arrested yet.
CPM secretary Jitendra Choudhury said at least six CPM and Congress workers were wounded when the party booth office at Sonatola in Khowai district was attacked and set on fire by BJP supporters at 8.15pm.

Rahul Gandhi has become the biggest crowd puller in the country, and the Bharat Jodo Yatra is a beginning of a change in India, says Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. He told TOI that there are no concerns on opposition unity as it will emerge automatically, and that Rahul is keen that it happens. Excerpts from the intervew:
What has the Congress achieved from the Bharat Jodo Yatra?
This yatra went beyond our expectations. When it started on September 7 last year, nobody thought it would be a game changer in national politics. It was felt that the yatra may do well in Kerala and Karnataka, but the response in the North was superb, and that in Kashmir was unimaginable. It has electrified our cadre, our organisational capacity has increased, and the style of functioning of our workers and party has totally changed. Besides Congress workers, sympathisers who were not active, have connected through the yatra. Crucially, “independents” who don’t believe in Congress but want a strong opposition party who will resist the present political culture, connected with us. All this may not have changed the course of the country, but the atmosphere suggests a beginning of change.
Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s stress has been on communalism and bigotry. Can it backfire, since it is believed such focus polarizes people in favour of BJP?
Our slogan is clear: nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukan (in the market of hatred, a shop of love). People don’t have that kind of hatred on the issue of religion, but BJP provokes polarisation with the support of media and agencies like CBI, ED and police. We sent a message to people that they should not be afraid and should not fall for fear mongering. Our position on divisive politics against the BJP has been embraced by the public.
Rahul Gandhi has been the focus of the Yatra. How does the Congress view the yatra from his point of view?
As a campaigner, Rahul used to travel everywhere for Congress and he will continue doing it. But through this yatra, Rahul has become the biggest crowd puller in the country and the people of India have completely demolished the narrative about him created by the BJP-RSS. During the march, everyday, 200 odd people would walk with him and discuss their concerns. He would hear them out, be it farmers or youngsters or women or disabled or ex-servicemen. They were not Congress people and they realised who is Rahul Gandhi — an intelligent, brave and dynamic person, with the capacity to listen to people. Automatically, Rahul has become the biggest campaigner for Congress.
The yatra finale in Srinagar failed to see the kind of opposition gathering that was planned?
We invited other political parties to join the yatra and most of them participated. It was a courtesy we extended to them that they join the culmination function, we did not make it an opposition conclave. Their absence is not a big issue. Now in parliament, all the opposition parties are standing together. Rahul is telling everyone that the atmosphere of the country is demanding a sincere opposition unity to fight the Modi government. He says that Congress cannot fight it alone because we are not confronting just the BJP government, but the combined might of agencies and media. We are doing politics in abnormal times. Congress will do the maximum for opposition unity, and it will emerge automatically when the time comes.

NEW DELHI: Five days before UP is to host a Global Investors Summit, CM Yogi Adityanath says that this is the first time investments are coming to all 75 districts. In an interview with

TOI

, he is confident that actual proposals at the GIS would be several times more than the target. Excerpts:
Q:Are you satisfied with the response of pre-GIS roadshows? What is the value of the total proposals against the target of Rs 10 lakh crore set by you?
A: It is several times the target set by us. The response we got from abroad, within the country and in Uttar Pradesh, has been very exciting.
Q: What is the realistic assessment of the materialisation of MoUs and intents which have been received so far?
A: This is one government which does what it says. After the first investors summit, we have been able to hold three ground-breaking events. We have been able to materialise 75-80% of the total proposals worth Rs 4.68 lakh crore that we received in 2018 investors summit.
Q:Is there any special effort this time to ensure that the investment proposals get evenly distributed across the state and are not concentrated in Noida and Greater Noida?
A: In the past six years, it has been seen that economic growth has gathered momentum in eastern UP and Bundelkhand. These regions would match the development of west UP districts. This will be the first time when all districts of the state will get investment. Every district will be connected with the inauguration ceremony of the Global Investor Summit which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 10. After this, each district will have its own summit.
Q: Has One District One Product (ODOP) not already made a base of entrepreneurship?
A: There are a few things that are very important for any industrial investment. These include the rule of law and atmosphere of safety and security, land bank, and availability of facilities in a time-bound manner. Despite all this, if a state does not have MSME base, it is bound to face difficulties. UP has all the four things.
Q: Did UP’s negative image and poor law and order situation deter investors from coming to the state in the past?
A: People had started believing that the state witnesses riots every second or third day. There was an identity crisis among the youths of Uttar Pradesh. However, in the past six years, UP has come out of all the negativities and has projected itself as a developing state. The state is getting huge investments now.
Q: What message would you like to give to investors through TOI?
A: There is a very good atmosphere for investment. The government is ready to support them. They should come and utilise the potential of the state.
Q: There is a lot of excitement for the event. However, it loses steam after the event is over.
A: It happens with those who do it for the first time. We have done it earlier too. We not only signed MoUs but we also held three ground-breaking ceremonies after it. Now, the system is technology-based. All three processes are now being done through software, which are being monitored through the CM office.

NEW DELHI: The government has blocked as many as 232 apps operated by foreign entities, many of them Chinese, for being involved in betting, gambling and unauthorised loan services.
The decision was taken by the IT ministry on the recommendations of the home ministry, which had looked into the matter, sources said. “The order to block 138 apps that were involved in betting, gambling and money laundering were issued last evening. Separately, an order to block 94 apps engaged in unauthorised loan service has also been issued. These apps were being operated from offshore entities, including Chinese. They were posing a threat to the economic stability of the country,” an official source said, without giving much details about the names of the apps.
The MHA had sought the action on an ‘urgent and emergency’ basis, one of the sources said. The action was taken under Section 69A of the IT Act as the apps contained material that was seen as prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
There had been several complaints against the apps, many of whom were alleged to be extorting money from people and harassing them after extending loans to them. The sources said that there were many suicides in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana due to such harassment. Many of the apps were not available on the app stores, though they could be downloaded through individual links or websites.
Since the start of political tensions with China in 2020 following an LAC clash, India has banned several popular Chinese apps in the country, including TikTok and WeChat Messenger. The country had last year blocked access to several Chinese mobile apps citing security concerns, following which China expressed concerns over bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

GURGAON: The trove of history that the Aravalis hold has widened with the latest discovery of stone carvings that archaeologists say date back to the Paleolithic period or the Stone Age.
The petroglyphs discovered in Badshapur Tethar village of Sohna include graffiti, and hand and footprints of humans and animals engraved on quartzite rocks. The site is atop a hillock and just 6km from Mangar, where cave paintings believed to be from the same period were discovered in 2021. The carvings, however, seem to be older, experts said. The Paleolithic era spans from about 25 lakh years to 10,000 BP (before present, the carbon dating marker that archaeologists use with 1950 treated as the base year).
Spread across a 2km radius, the latest site was discovered recently by Sunil Harsana, an ecologist and wildlife researcher. He informed the archaeological department about what seemed to be carvings from the Stone Age and requested a thorough examination of them. On Sunday, a team of archaeologists confirmed that the rocks indeed dated back to the Paleolithic period.
“Several tools and equipment used to make them were found at the site as well. Though the rocks have withered away with time and because of exposure to harsh weather conditions, the carvings are clearly visible,” Harsana told TOI.
The journey to the site is arduous. After an 80-minute trek, which involves negotiating thorny bushes that cling to the trail, sharp rocks and slippery pebbles, this correspondent reached the top of the hill where the rocks bearing the petroglyphs lay scattered.
There might have been, and could still be, more treasures waiting to be discovered in ancient ranges. Much might have been lost to mining, ground to dust in the cavernous pits carved into the hills. But on some of the pristine stretches, experts don’t rule out more such discoveries.
“These findings are remarkable examples of Indian prehistory. They mark the progress of human civilisation. I believe the carvings are more than 10,000 BP old. But the exact date can be ascertained only after a survey,” said Banani Bhattacharyya, deputy director of the Haryana directorate of archaeology and museums. “This gives us a chance to see how the earliest of humans developed tools. Most of the carvings are of animal paws and human footprints. There are some basic symbols, which had presumably been kept for some special purpose,” she added.
Divay Gupta, an adviser to the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), said, “These petroglyphs are highly significant, considering their antiquity can go to prehistory. These can be territorial, or used for ancient games or record-keeping. It is, however, difficult to date them exactly or ascribe them a definite function at the moment. But further studies should be done on them.”
Officials in the archaeological department said they would soon carry out an extensive survey of the area. “Yes, we are aware of the findings. This region is a cradle of human civilisation. If we look at the Saraswati-Sindhu civilisation, its full cycle began in this belt. There is evidence of pre-Vedic and Vedic existence as well. We will carry out surveys for further research,” said MD Sinha, the principal secretary (archaeology and museums).
Paleolithic paintings have been discovered in the region earlier. In 2021, the archaeological department discovered a 5,000-hectare site in Faridabad’s Mangar, where cave paintings were found along with rock shelters and tools.
Among the items that were found were pebbles and flake-based tools, hinting at a site where stone tools were manufactured — this ‘Acheulean’ industry was the first tradition of standardised tool-making, according to archaeologists. They also believe that the stone paintings could be the largest in the Indian subcontinent. In 2021, carvings similar to the ones discovered on Saturday were found in Kot village of Faridabad. There were also graffiti of birds, animals and human footprints.
The Aravalis have been a subject of pre-historic research for several decades. In 1986, stone paintings were discovered in Anangpur area of Faridabad. A total of 43 sites were traced then, prompting researchers to start surveys of the area every now and then.