Need to cut oil imports, says Jaitley

Posted on 28th Mar 2015 10:16 am by mohit kumar

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Pointing out how decreasing oil prices helped control inflation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the government required to pay attention to oil exploration to reduce the country's energy imports.

"Need to look at our oil exploration programme, acquisition of assets overseas to cut dependence on energy imports," Jaitley said at the "Urja Sangam - 2015", an international conference here on energy security.

Underlining the importance of coal for industry and power generation, he said the recent coal auctions were a "huge initiative" in this regard.

"Revenues from these auctions will all go to states with tribal areas, which they can spend on development. Minerals will now be available on a more transparent and rational basis," Jaitley said.

He also said that the government is taking steps for long-term financing in infrastructure projects.

"We've given budgetary support for long-term financing of infrastructure. An infrastructure fund has been created where government makes the initial contribution, and in which pension and other funds are going to join in," he said.

Other news

Kartik Aaryan: Kartik Aryan narrowly escaped being a victim of an accident, fans who came to meet the actor broke the barricade.

Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan excited his fans by attending the Filmfare Awards held in Gujarat on

The country will get a new Vice President today: BJP's vote is enough to win Dhankhar, and opposition candidate Margaret Alva is in competition

Voting for the post of Vice President is to be held today. Jagdeep Dhankhar from NDA and Margaret

Liquor policy scam: Today is the last day of Kejriwal's judicial custody, CBI's fourth charge sheet will also be heard

Today is the last day of judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the CBI case relat

Corona bomb explodes in Gurugram, 9 cases surfaced

Covid19 infection does not appear to be decreasing. On the third day, 9 corona positive cases hav

Action: MHA is strict against Chinese lending apps, and states and union territories instructed to take action

The Union Home Ministry has taken a tough stand against Chinese lending apps. In this regard, the

Why is North Korea's cruise missile test a concern for other countries?

Earlier this week North Korea announced that it had successfully tested a long-range cruise missi

IND vs PAK: 'Pakistan deserves this...', what else did Kiren Rijiju say on Bumrah's 'jet crash' action?

Following Pakistan's humiliating defeat in the Asia Cup 2025 final, Operation Sindoor has once ag

PM Modi On America Allegations: 'We will look into...', PM Modi's statement on the Pannu murder case surfaced for the first time

PM Modi On America Allegations: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi interviewed with the Financia

Sikkim Flood: Cloud burst causes devastation in Sikkim, 14 people dead so far; Hundreds missing including 23 army personnel

A cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim caused a flash flood in the Teesta River basin on W

Ricky Ponting wants to see these two out of Dinesh Karthik, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, and Ishaan Kishan playing in the T20 World Cup

The ICC T20 World Cup is to be played in Australia in October-November this year. All the teams h