00:00I had said that the kind of crude oil we are buying, India can easily sell petrol at 55
00:07to 60 rupees per litre.
00:09Mr. Modi could not extract an invitation for attending the coronation ceremony of United
00:15States President Donald Trump.
00:16With this pressure from US, India will be forced to buy an expensive crude oil.
00:23It's only the media which is trying to prop up the image of Mr. Modi by showing that somebody
00:28shook hands and somebody hugged and somebody offered a chair, etc.
00:33In this country, the normalization is all under pressure.
00:38We continue to call we are the fifth largest economy, etc.
00:42But we have a per capita less than the Bangladesh and the Somalia.
00:46We have with us Mr. Ravi Srivastava.
00:49He has been general manager of HPCL.
00:53And Mr. Srivastava, we do know that Narendra Modi announced that US will become the biggest
01:03partner of India in terms of crude oil.
01:08So what does it mean and what does really changes for India?
01:13How India was importing oil earlier and what has changed for India after this decision?
01:20I would not call it a partnership, but I would call it a kind of selling the country's
01:27interest under duress to the United States.
01:33Since the USSR and Ukraine war had started, India was buying crude from Russia and Iran,
01:44Middle East.
01:45India was getting at a far cheaper rate as compared to prevailing international prices,
01:51almost to the extent of 30 to 40 percent cheaper per barrel than compared to the international
01:58markets.
01:59In India, we have got abundant of refining capacity.
02:04We have got new refineries available, Reliance Group refineries are available, HMEL is there,
02:16Mysore capacity has been expanded, we have got Kachin refinery and Chennai refinery also.
02:22So we have got a lot of capacity for refining the crude.
02:26And this crude refined, Reliance was selling at a premium, the refined product to the European
02:33countries and making reasonably good profits.
02:37Now with this pressure from the US, India will be forced to buy an expensive crude oil.
02:45An expensive crude oil will definitely drain India's foreign exchange because 88 percent
02:54of India's need is imported crude.
02:58We hardly have got that 12 percent production.
03:01So you are saying that it is not a good deal for India, logistically also it is a big challenge
03:06for India, bringing oil from other parts of the world all together.
03:11Definitely because earlier US did not have so much of crude oil as well, but with the
03:18Trump administration now coming up, they have decided to increase their production and increase
03:25it substantially and they will be having the crude available to export.
03:31So that's why, that's the reason they are forcing India to buy it.
03:35You have rightly said it, it's logistically a disadvantage because such a long distance,
03:40while India is getting crude from Russia, very convenient, and from Middle East, which
03:46is also very nearby.
03:50But then why a country such as India, it has its own, you know, presence, we are someone
03:56who claim to be one of the strongest nations, fifth biggest economy, then why so much of
04:03pressure or why, what you are saying, it is quite direct, that India is buying this
04:09oil under pressure, because we are already getting cheaper oil from Russia.
04:13First of all, India's need is constantly rising, despite so much of use of renewable energies,
04:20like solar, wind, or electric, still the production of the automobiles, which is exponentially
04:29increasing.
04:30So there is the need for fossil fuels, that is motor fuels, petrol, diesel, LPG, etc.,
04:37etc.
04:3810 or 15 years before, we were almost at the stage of 84% of our need was dependent upon
04:47the foreign crude, which of late has now become 88%.
04:53Since we have not invested adequately in the exploration, and we have our fields are
05:00getting aged, whether it is Cauvery Basin, or whether it is Bombay High, their yield
05:07is constantly reducing, and we are not investing enough to increase it, to augment it.
05:16That's the reason that our dependence on the imported crude is constantly rising.
05:20And since we were getting a crude which is at much lower price, India was able to sustain
05:26very well, because their foreign exchange outgo was limited.
05:30But now with this pressure, the economy would definitely suffer, foreign exchange will be
05:36under pressure, because we'll have to buy the expensive crude oil from the US.
05:41How do you see all this changing, you know, the relations in terms, the relations with
05:47Russia?
05:48Because we, we do know that how close partners, India and Russia have been whether it's crude
05:55oil or the arms and weapons.
05:59And all in all these terms, now Trump wants India to deal with USA.
06:05So it will be a big setback for a country like Russia for Putin.
06:09Till 1970, or I must say till 1980, India and USSR were very good friends, very close
06:16friends.
06:17And there was a lot of, because Russia came out of the communist rule, and the factories
06:25which were manufacturing the arms, they started manufacturing the toys ultimately.
06:30So their economy changed altogether overnight.
06:35And India and USSR were very good friends.
06:38And this friendship revived recently.
06:40In between there was a setback, because of the American pressure on India.
06:45It was, it was, you know, the since it's a, you know, political balancing, India was more
06:52inclined towards the US, US and the friendship with USSR was affected.
06:57But after Corona, the way we started getting the cheaper crude oil and then friendship
07:03again increased, I think the US does not see it rightly.
07:09They feel that their economy is under, you know, they are, their resources are being
07:14drained.
07:15This is what they feel.
07:16So it is not only in the oil, the entire tariff, the US, US has indicated that they should
07:23be at par and India, Mr. Donald Trump has called India even a tax or tariff abuser.
07:30So that's the situation today.
07:32And this will definitely have a reasonable setback on Indian economy.
07:39It's not a win-win situation, if someone says, mostly many of the, you know, mainstream channels
07:47telling it's a big win for India, India buying F-35 and this crude oil supply.
07:52So overall, it's not a big win-win situation.
07:55It is more of a compromise for India to sell its products in USA.
08:00And of course, vice versa, that US could sell its product on much, you know, lower tariffs
08:06in India.
08:07Unfortunately, Mr. Modi could not extract an invitation for attending the coronation
08:12ceremony of United States President Donald Trump.
08:16And it was, it was set, made to be an opportunity of the two national heads to meet one to one.
08:25But the entire visit of Mr. Narendra Modi to US, I feel it's a, it's only a show off and
08:33nothing else.
08:35There is nothing achieved as far as, no tangible achievements by India.
08:41As far as F-35 are concerned, Mr. Elon Musk's statements are there on record, who said these
08:46are the almost flying coffees, many, many accidents have taken place, and the plane
08:52is very expensive, it was almost a scrap, nobody's willing to buy that and forced India
08:59to buy it.
09:00So that is one.
09:01On tariff part, you have seen it, on oil, you have seen it, on immigrants, you have
09:04seen it.
09:05So in nutshell, it's only the media which is trying to prop up the image of Mr. Modi
09:10by showing that somebody shook hands and somebody hugged and somebody offered a chair, etc.
09:16Or somebody said you are a great Prime Minister, this is all optics, there is there is nothing
09:22tangible gain for India as such.
09:25If you watch one meeting of Prime Minister Modi with Mr. Elon Musk, in which all India's
09:31top brass was sitting on a side like NIA head, NSA head and ambassador and everyone.
09:37On the other side, Mr. Elon Musk sitting with his girlfriend and the two children and nanny.
09:42So I mean, what kind of bilateral discussions were there?
09:45And what has been achieved?
09:47I think the questions asked during the press conference, impromptu press conference, which
09:53America as a democracy does it necessarily, they never bypass it.
09:58They did it on which Mr. Adani's question was asked by one reporter, and Mr. Modi was
10:03flabbergasted.
10:04He was he was looking totally uncomfortable before the audience.
10:09There was one question on which Mr. Trump said that Mr. Prime Minister, I will answer
10:15this question.
10:16It was on Biden administration.
10:17So such was the situation.
10:19You have headed HPCL in a way and you know in and out of the entire system.
10:24We want to ask you, India never thought that or the Indians never thought that we'll be
10:29buying petrol for 100 plus rupees.
10:33It was never in the picture.
10:34It happened and now it has been normalized.
10:37What should we be ready for after the US oil coming in on a much higher rate?
10:44In this country, the normalization is all under pressure because the is available for
10:53250 rupees per kg and I have to buy at least one or two kg every month.
10:58I will go and buy it.
11:00The same stand for the petrol.
11:02It's for survival.
11:03One has to go to his work, one has to do his daily course.
11:07So he is forced to buy it.
11:09People are.
11:10But what's the new number that we should think of?
11:11It used to be something as a mark that we it will never cross 100, but it is it has
11:16happened.
11:17100 was a 100 was a coercion on the people.
11:22I'm telling you, I'm opposing it.
11:24The day it was introduced, I had said that the kind of crude oil we are buying, India
11:30can easily sell petrol at 55 to 60 rupees per liter and the diesel at 50 rupees per
11:36liter.
11:37We don't require so much of taxation on this or excise duty on this.
11:42The excise duty, which was 9 rupees per liter, was made 33 rupees per liter.
11:47You can imagine yourself that where it will take the price and all in the name of because
11:52we are going to bring the infrastructure, we are going to do this.
11:55We are going to do that and we will extract the people of the nation with a very high
12:00exorbitant fuel price.
12:03So Indians must be ready for more expensive oil, more expensive petrol.
12:11If that happens, ultimately it will affect the sale of the automobiles only because people
12:16are already shifting from fossil fuel to the electric vehicles to LPG vehicles to CNG vehicles.
12:27This is India's push towards green energy by making the petrol expensive.
12:33Right.
12:34Right.
12:35Right.
12:36Right.
12:37And there's a good, it's a good thing.
12:38It is not happening in India alone.
12:39This is happening worldwide.
12:40Yeah.
12:41It is happening worldwide.
12:42All top automobile manufacturers have, you know, shifted their production from the fossil
12:47fuel to the eco-friendly fuels or for that matter, to the electric vehicles and even
12:54the solar driven vehicles, all such things.
12:58All automobile manufacturers are doing it.
13:00It is not in India alone.
13:02Okay.
13:03Mr. Sebastian, last question, I just want to understand three to four points that you
13:08see out of this, you know, the new deal that India has done with USA, especially in terms
13:15of crude oil, just three, four points, not the description, but just three, four points,
13:21which can be positive, negative, but how do you, you know, see it just three, four main
13:25points of this entire new deal.
13:28The only positive which I see out of this is that some ice has broken between Mr. Donald
13:33Trump and Mr. Narendra Modi, which was, you know, which was multiplying and which was
13:38creating a lot of confusion.
13:39So it is at least they both have come on one table, although Mr. Trump said that you are
13:45a very strong negotiator, et cetera, within the process, he proved to be a bigger negotiator
13:50and he pushed Mr. Modi to the brink.
13:53Another thing is, I would say that the markets would definitely suffer already, FII, FII
13:58when we call it, it is 99% FII from the US only.
14:03So they have already withdrawn three lakh crore worth of money from Indian markets since
14:0828th of September when it was at the peak.
14:11So three lakh crore worth of money has gone, the market has sunk 10,000 points down, rupee
14:16has sunk, rupee has gone to 86, 88 paisa and almost 10% since last four, five months.
14:24So this is, this is the status.
14:27I would say that the economy is trying to find its place now.
14:31This is, we are, we continue to call we are the fifth largest economy, et cetera, but
14:36we have a per capita less than the Bangladesh and the Somalia.
14:39So I think that has got no meaning unless the standards of the bottom most people rise
14:45up, which we call the elevation of poverty.
14:48So this is not happening.
14:49The gap is rising substantially and this is definitely leading to more, you know, unrest
14:56among the people.
14:57Thank you so much, sir.
14:58Thank you so much for your time.
15:00You are someone who knows in and out how, you know, the petroleum system works in India,
15:07which is very difficult for many of the journalists who are not covering it regularly.
15:12So thank you so much for your insight.
15:14And we just hope that we have a much cheaper oil or crude oil coming in into India so that
15:21our pockets will be paying less for everything.
15:24Thank you so much.
15:26Don't miss out.
15:27Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.
Comments