Coal Stealing and Pilferage by the Coal Mafia has always been done on a massive multi million dollar scale. In the coal rich states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Chattisgarh, Stealing of Coal is a major illegal industry. Everyone knows about it and nothing is done as most officials and politicians get a cut of the illegal gains. Corruption in India is institutionalized as governing bodies remain weak and powerless. Despite India’s much touted growth story,all these needling problems have contributed towards the Indian GDP slowing down sharply. Unless governance is improved,its tough to see how India can achieve its potential.
Indian Telecom Companies are using more than $500 million in fuel subsidies meant for the poor and generating more than 6 million tons of carbon dioxide every year by using diesel gensets at telecom towers not connected to the grid.Note the Telecom Industry in India has not exactly covered itself with glory on other matters with the 2G Telecom Scam already putting top executives in jail and implicating top telecom companies as well.The issues of massive fuel wastage in telecom towers has been raised in the past in greenworldinvestor as telecom tower companies viom,gtl,airtel and others have tried to put lipstick on the pig by making a mockery of green initiatives by committing to convert only a minuscule number of total towers to renewable energy.
India’s Oil and Gas Industry has an interesting mix of Oil & Gas companies from the government and private sector.Except for some companies providing ancillary and drilling services,most of the companies are huge with billion dollar balance sheet and huge operations as is the case with the Oil and Gas Industry worldwide.Except for Reliance Industries,the upstream sector of oil and gas production and distribution is dominated by government owned companies which are heavily regulated.Despite attempts at liberalizing the APMC and the operations of the PSU Oil Companies,HPCL,BPCL and IOC run billions of dollars in losses as they are forced to sell oil and gas products at below their cost.The government’s policies are mostly ad-hoc compensating these companies through bonds and money transfers.It is quite strange as the minority investors are forced to pay for government subsidies for energy.India’s Oil Subsidies has led to the flourishing of a massive Oil Mafia which does not think twice before killing government officials and has led to poor outcomes for the country.Despite this government stupidity,some government companies like GAIL,OIL India and ONGC which operates in the production and have to bear less of the subsidy burden have grown and performed admirably.In the private sector companies like Reliance,Aban,Great Offshore,Essar have managed to grow rapidly as well with varying degrees of success.Here is the list of the major Oil and Gas Companies in India.
Increasing Oil Prices is the biggest Achilles Heel of the Indian Economy heavily dependent on imported oil products.The government will have to either raise the prices leading to adding fire to the already high inflation or compensate the badly bleeding half privatized Oil Companies like IOC,BPCL and HPCL.These companies generally make massive losses despite having private investors apart from the government.Compensating these losses would lead to a higher fiscal deficit which would add to the inflation pressures anyway.Note a recent survey revealed that the Indian Middle Class has cut its expenditure on shopping,eating out and entertainment by a whopping 65% due to the high inflation.However the Indian Stock Market has seemingly discounted all these factors going up by 10% in 10 days on the back of a global rally.Bernanke Fueled Cheap Money is Circulating Hungrily across the Globe and currently India seems to be the fashion trend of the month.Note these hot money flows can reverse equally quickly leading to a sharp market crash just like the Jan-Feb one as fundamentals hardly support this kind of rally.With government intervention and distortions becoming the overriding factor in the stock markets,Free Markets and Fundamentals have taken a backseat.
India has around 300,000 Telecom Towers around the country , a large portion of which is not connected to the electricity grid.Another large portion does not have access to reliable electricity implying they have to install backup power systems in order to run without interruptions.Diesel Generators have been the choice of telecom operators despite their high carbon imprint.This is because of the ease of buying and installing diesel generators as well as the lower fuel costs as the government in India heavily subsidizes diesel.Note India’s Fossil Fuel Subsidies have led to hundreds of distortions in the economy.Corruption,Pilfering,Adulteration is carried out on a large scale due to government subsidies.In fact a senior government official was burnt alive by the Kerosene Mafia a direct outcome of this subsidy policy.But that is a separate issue.
India’s Fossil Fuel Subsidies have led to a massive growth of the petrol and diesel mafia in the country.India gives subsidies on diesel,kerosene and cooking gas through its state owned petro/gas companies like BPCL,IOCL,HPCL etc.These subsidies have been given for a long time and have led to the growth of a parallel black economy in these products.They not only lead to capital misallocation but also to the massive illegal profits for a few.It is a well known fact that all petroleum pump owners adulterate petroleum ( which power most of the cars) with subsdized diesel and kerosene.This massive racket earns millions of dollars (if not billions) for a network of company officials,pump owners,government bureaucrats and politicians.The mafia is so strong and powerful that it thinks nothing of burning alive a senior police official.The racketeers are so rich and well connected that despite common knowledge nothing gets done about it.