WBCS Current Affairs 16/05/2014 to 23/05/2014
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 9:01 am1.The 16th Lok Sabha polls registered a record average voter turnout of 66.4%. Dhubri of Assam witnessed the highest turnout at 88.22% followed by Nagaland at 87.82%; Srinagar of J&K registered the lowest turnout at 25.90%, followed by Anantnag of the same state.
Table 1: Top 10 Parliamentary Constituencies in terms of Voter Turnout
Sl. No Parliamentary Constituency State/UT Voter Turnout
1 Dhubri Assam 88.22%
2 Nagaland Nagaland 87.82%
3 Tamluk West Bengal 87.59%
4 Bishnupur West Bengal 86.72%
5 Lakshadweep Lakshadweep 86.61%
6 Kanthi West Bengal 86.61%
7 Bardhaman Purba West Bengal 86.21%
8 Tripura West Tripura 85.92%
9 Basirhat West Bengal 85.45%
10 Birbhum West Bengal 85.33%
Source: Election Commission of India
Table 2: Bottom 10 Parliamentary Constituencies in terms of Voter Turnout
Sl. No Parliamentary Constituency State/UT Voter Turnout
1 Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir 25.90%
2 Anantnag Jammu & Kashmir 28.84%
3 Baramulla Jammu & Kashmir 39.13%
4 Kalyan Maharashtra 42.88%
5 Patna Sahib Bihar 45.33%
6 Bhind Madhya Pradesh 45.62%
7 Nalanda Bihar 47.22%
8 Mumbai North Central Maharashtra 48.61%
9 Arrah Bihar 48.75%
10 Bansgaon Uttar Pradesh 49.88%
Source: Election Commission of India
2.Star trading houses — big importers and exporters has been permitted by the RBI to import gold under its existing 20:80 scheme. Thus far, the facility was available to select banks only and other big entities like star trading houses were forbidden from importing the yellow metal.As per the 20:80 scheme, an importer has to ensure that at least 20% of every lot of imported gold is exclusively made available for exports as finished good and the balance for domestic use.
3.Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), India’s first all-women bank, has been included in the second schedule to the RBI Act 1934.
With the inclusion in the second schedule or commercial bank category, the bank has become eligible for loans from RBI on bank rate and also gets membership of clearing houses. Furthermore, it assures that any activity of the bank would not adversely affect the interests of depositors.
4.Naveen Patnaik was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Odisha for the fourth term in a row. Mr. Patnaik was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor S.C. Jamir.
5.Sikkim’s Governor Shriniwas Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pawan Chamling as Sikkim Chief Minister for the record fifth term in a row.
6.Anandiben Patel (73) will succeed PM-designate Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Prior to her election as CM, she was state’s revenue minister. Modi was the longest-serving chief minister of the state. Anandiben Patel is the first woman chief minister of Gujarat.
7.As per the directions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all banks will be required to make all new ATMs installed from July 1, 2014 as “talking ATMs” with Braille keypads.
8.India’s largest online retailer, Flipkart.com, acquired fashion e-retailer Myntra.com. While the exact size of the deal could not be ascertained, some reports estimate it to be of Rs 1,800-2,000 crore
The deal is expected to consolidate Rs 62,000-crore e-commerce market of India. The acquisition by Flipkart reflects the company’s intention to tap into the online sales of apparel and fashion accessories where it has had limited. Apparel and fashion domain is the largest shopping categories in the online retail space.
As per experts, by 2019, the electronics and fashion domain will account for 30% of the sales in the online e-commerce space.
9.Jitan Ram Manjhi is the new Chief Minister of Bihar. He was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor D.Y. Patil at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Patna. The 15 members of the previous Nitish Kumar government have retained their place in the new Jitan Ram Manjhi Ministry, while two independent MLA have also been added.
10.Prime Minister-to-be Narendra Modi is not the first Chief Minister to ascend to the seat of the head of Government of India. The distinction goes to former Karnataka CM H.D. Deve Gowda, who, moved to the post of Prime Minister in 1996.
11.Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has cancelled a visit to Chibok, the town from where more than 200 schoolgirls have been abducted by militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Jonathan has been criticised for not visiting the town – more than a month after the girls were abducted.
The president will now go direct to Paris to participate in a meeting convened by French President Francois Hollande to discuss the issue of Boko Haram militants.
Around 276 female students were abducted from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria on the night of April 14-15, 2014. Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist, and Takfiri terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria have claimed these kidnappings. Boko Haram, had earlier said the girls should not have been at school and should be married instead.
Boko Haram:
It is a militant Islamist group Boko Haram active mainly in Nigeria and is responsible for wreaking mayhem in the country through a series of bombings, assassinations and now kidnappings. It intends to bring down the government and create an Islamic state.
Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it “haram”, or forbidden, for Muslims to participate in any political or social activity associated with Western society. This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and rousers or receiving a secular education.
The group was set up in 2002 as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”. It was dubbed Boko Haram, a phrase in the local Hausa language meaning, “Western education is forbidden”.
12.Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone acquired the strategic Dhamra port in Odisha on the east coast of India for an enterprise value of Rs 5, 500 crore. The company inked a definitive pact to acquire the port from a 50:50 joint venture of Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro. After the 2005 acquisition of Pipapav Port in Gujarat by APM Terminals BV from SKIL Infrastructure, the Dhamra deal is the largest port sector deal in India.
13.As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, Plastic currency notes will be launched in 2015 after field trial which is likely to be conducted in the latter half of 2014. The pilot testing would be conducted in five cities- Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Shimla.
One billion plastic notes of Rs.10 denomination will be released in the field trial in these cities chosen for their geographical and climatic diversity. Plastic currency notes have an average life span of about 5 years and are difficult to counterfeit. Also, these notes are cleaner than paper notes.
14.Russi Mody (96), regarded as India’s ‘Steel Man’ for his role in elevating Tata Steel (then known as Tisco) to its present status of India’s largest steel manufacturing company, passed away.
15.The 16th Lok Sabha will have lowest Muslim representation (Muslim MPs) of all-time at 22. The previous low in the history of Indian Parliament was witnessed in 1957 when there were only 23 Muslim MPs. While Muslims constitute 10.5% of India’s population, its percentage representation in the new Lok Sabha will be 4.2%. In 1957, it was slightly high at 4.6%. The highest representation was in 1980 when 49 Muslims were elected as MPs.
West Bengal sends the largest number of Muslim MPs with 4 from Trinamool Congress and 2 each from Congress and CPI. The second highest number is from Bihar with RJD, NCP, Lok Jan Shakti Party and Congress sending 1 MP each. In Assam 2 Muslim MPs, both from All India United Democratic Front, have won. Kashmir has elected 3 Muslim MPs while Kerala elected 3. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have elected 1 Muslim MP each while no Muslim MP has been elected from Uttar Pradesh.
16.Following resignation of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman, Dr C. Rangarajan has also resigned. The present PMEAC chaired by Rangarajan had Saumitra Chaudhuri, VS Vyas, Pulin Nayak, and Dilip Nachane as its members. The term of PMEAC members is co-terminus with that of the Prime Minister.
17.World’s biggest democratic exercise- India’s 16th Lok Sabha (Lower House) elections which ran from April, 7 to May 12, 2014 are over and its verdict is out. Of the total 543 seats for which elections were contested, BJP led NDA achieved a thumping victory on 336 seats, whereas, Congress led UPA has faced thorough defeat in 6 key states winning just 59 seats, and the Congress, 44 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which contested on 424 seats has faced debacle as it could win just 4 seats. AAP leader and former Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejrival, who contested against the Narendra Modi from Varanasi, defeated by a huge margin of more than 3 lakh votes.
With this NDA victory, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is all set to be the head of the newly elected Indian Government.
Some high spots of Lok Sabha polls 2014:
It was 16th Lok Sabha election.
Election Commission of India conducted election in 9 phases, longest election in the country’s history.
8,251 candidates contested for 543 constituencies in India.
814.5 million People were eligible voters, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009, making this the largest-ever election in the world.
Average election turnout was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.
With more than six times the seats of its closest contenders, Modi’s is the most decisive mandate for a leader since the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son to office. Since 1989, India has been governed by coalitions.
With 282 seats, the BJP has won the highest number of seats by a single party in the modern, post-regional politics era, compared with 244 for the Congress in 1991 and 206 for it in 2009.
It is the worst ever performance by Congress compared to its show in other previous General Elections.
Since 1977, the BJP is the first non-Congress party to defeat Congress by such a huge margin. However, the biggest tally of seats achieved by a non-Congress party is 295 won by the Janata Party in the 1977 post-Emergency election that ousted Mrs. Gandhi from office.
BJP registered its biggest win in Uttar Pradesh winning 71 seats despite a big coalition partner, the best performance by a single party in the state since 1984 when the Congress won 83 of 85 seats.
Results Lok Sabha Polls 2014:
ALLIANCE TALLY
NDA (BJP + Allies) 335
UPA (Congress + Allies) 59
AAP 4
SP 5
BSP 0
AITC 34
JD(U) 2
LEFT 11
ADMK 37
OTHERS 56
TOTAL 543/543
VOTE SHARE:
Alliance Vote share (%)
NDA 35
UPA 23
LEFT 4
AITC 4
OTHERS 34
18.India’s largest telecom company Bharti Airtel raised around $2 billion in a dual currency international bond sale. It is the largest debt issuance by a domestic company till date. Bharti sold dual currency dollar and euro bonds to raise the money which will be used for repayment and refinancing of existing foreign currency debt. It is a first dual currency issuance by an Indian issuer and also largest fund raising exercise at a single time by an Indian issuer.
What are Dual Currency Bonds?
Dual Currency Bonds pay interest coupons in one currency and principal redemption for a fixed sum in a second currency, often the dollar.
19.Former IB chief, Rajiv Mathur took over as the new Chief Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.
20.Narendra Kumar Verma was selected as Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) by Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).
21.Nabam Tuki sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh
22.Ashwin B. Pandya appointed as the Chairman of the Central Water Commission & ex-officio Secretary of the Government of India.
23.An RBI committee headed by former chairman of Axis Bank PJ Nayak has said in its report that the government should bring down its stake in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to below 50%.
24.The government appointed Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next Chief of the Indian Army. The Union Cabinet cleared the name of Vice Army Chief Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag as the successor to Gen Bikram Singh, who will retire on July 3, 2014.
Suhag was the most senior officer in the Indian Army after Bikram Singh. He was recommended by the Ministry of Defence for further consideration by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
25.According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA),India will overtake Japan to become the world’s third largest oil consumer behind the US and China by 2025.
As per EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook:
India’s oil consumption will increase from 3.68 million barrels per day (bpd), or 173.5 million tonnes, in 2012 to 5.19 million bpd in 2025, catching up with Japan’s 4.38 million bpd consumption. Japan consumed 4.75 million bpd of oil in 2012.
At present, India is the fourth largest oil consumer in the world behind the US, China and Japan.
Though the US will remain the world’s biggest oil consumer but its demand growth will be almost negligible.
With 3% compounded annual growth rate, India’s oil consumption growth rate from 2012 to 2040 will be highest in the world. Its oil consumption will reach 6.11 million bpd in 2030 and 8.33 million bpd in 2040.
India meets around 80% of India’s oil requirements through imports.
In 2013, India overtook Japan as the world’s third-biggest importer of crude oil.
According to International Energy Agency, India will become the world’s largest oil importer by 2020.
Table 1: Top 10 Parliamentary Constituencies in terms of Voter Turnout
Sl. No Parliamentary Constituency State/UT Voter Turnout
1 Dhubri Assam 88.22%
2 Nagaland Nagaland 87.82%
3 Tamluk West Bengal 87.59%
4 Bishnupur West Bengal 86.72%
5 Lakshadweep Lakshadweep 86.61%
6 Kanthi West Bengal 86.61%
7 Bardhaman Purba West Bengal 86.21%
8 Tripura West Tripura 85.92%
9 Basirhat West Bengal 85.45%
10 Birbhum West Bengal 85.33%
Source: Election Commission of India
Table 2: Bottom 10 Parliamentary Constituencies in terms of Voter Turnout
Sl. No Parliamentary Constituency State/UT Voter Turnout
1 Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir 25.90%
2 Anantnag Jammu & Kashmir 28.84%
3 Baramulla Jammu & Kashmir 39.13%
4 Kalyan Maharashtra 42.88%
5 Patna Sahib Bihar 45.33%
6 Bhind Madhya Pradesh 45.62%
7 Nalanda Bihar 47.22%
8 Mumbai North Central Maharashtra 48.61%
9 Arrah Bihar 48.75%
10 Bansgaon Uttar Pradesh 49.88%
Source: Election Commission of India
2.Star trading houses — big importers and exporters has been permitted by the RBI to import gold under its existing 20:80 scheme. Thus far, the facility was available to select banks only and other big entities like star trading houses were forbidden from importing the yellow metal.As per the 20:80 scheme, an importer has to ensure that at least 20% of every lot of imported gold is exclusively made available for exports as finished good and the balance for domestic use.
3.Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), India’s first all-women bank, has been included in the second schedule to the RBI Act 1934.
With the inclusion in the second schedule or commercial bank category, the bank has become eligible for loans from RBI on bank rate and also gets membership of clearing houses. Furthermore, it assures that any activity of the bank would not adversely affect the interests of depositors.
4.Naveen Patnaik was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Odisha for the fourth term in a row. Mr. Patnaik was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor S.C. Jamir.
5.Sikkim’s Governor Shriniwas Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to Pawan Chamling as Sikkim Chief Minister for the record fifth term in a row.
6.Anandiben Patel (73) will succeed PM-designate Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Prior to her election as CM, she was state’s revenue minister. Modi was the longest-serving chief minister of the state. Anandiben Patel is the first woman chief minister of Gujarat.
7.As per the directions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all banks will be required to make all new ATMs installed from July 1, 2014 as “talking ATMs” with Braille keypads.
8.India’s largest online retailer, Flipkart.com, acquired fashion e-retailer Myntra.com. While the exact size of the deal could not be ascertained, some reports estimate it to be of Rs 1,800-2,000 crore
The deal is expected to consolidate Rs 62,000-crore e-commerce market of India. The acquisition by Flipkart reflects the company’s intention to tap into the online sales of apparel and fashion accessories where it has had limited. Apparel and fashion domain is the largest shopping categories in the online retail space.
As per experts, by 2019, the electronics and fashion domain will account for 30% of the sales in the online e-commerce space.
9.Jitan Ram Manjhi is the new Chief Minister of Bihar. He was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor D.Y. Patil at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in Patna. The 15 members of the previous Nitish Kumar government have retained their place in the new Jitan Ram Manjhi Ministry, while two independent MLA have also been added.
10.Prime Minister-to-be Narendra Modi is not the first Chief Minister to ascend to the seat of the head of Government of India. The distinction goes to former Karnataka CM H.D. Deve Gowda, who, moved to the post of Prime Minister in 1996.
11.Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has cancelled a visit to Chibok, the town from where more than 200 schoolgirls have been abducted by militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Jonathan has been criticised for not visiting the town – more than a month after the girls were abducted.
The president will now go direct to Paris to participate in a meeting convened by French President Francois Hollande to discuss the issue of Boko Haram militants.
Around 276 female students were abducted from the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria on the night of April 14-15, 2014. Boko Haram, an Islamic Jihadist, and Takfiri terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria have claimed these kidnappings. Boko Haram, had earlier said the girls should not have been at school and should be married instead.
Boko Haram:
It is a militant Islamist group Boko Haram active mainly in Nigeria and is responsible for wreaking mayhem in the country through a series of bombings, assassinations and now kidnappings. It intends to bring down the government and create an Islamic state.
Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it “haram”, or forbidden, for Muslims to participate in any political or social activity associated with Western society. This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and rousers or receiving a secular education.
The group was set up in 2002 as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”. It was dubbed Boko Haram, a phrase in the local Hausa language meaning, “Western education is forbidden”.
12.Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone acquired the strategic Dhamra port in Odisha on the east coast of India for an enterprise value of Rs 5, 500 crore. The company inked a definitive pact to acquire the port from a 50:50 joint venture of Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro. After the 2005 acquisition of Pipapav Port in Gujarat by APM Terminals BV from SKIL Infrastructure, the Dhamra deal is the largest port sector deal in India.
13.As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan, Plastic currency notes will be launched in 2015 after field trial which is likely to be conducted in the latter half of 2014. The pilot testing would be conducted in five cities- Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Shimla.
One billion plastic notes of Rs.10 denomination will be released in the field trial in these cities chosen for their geographical and climatic diversity. Plastic currency notes have an average life span of about 5 years and are difficult to counterfeit. Also, these notes are cleaner than paper notes.
14.Russi Mody (96), regarded as India’s ‘Steel Man’ for his role in elevating Tata Steel (then known as Tisco) to its present status of India’s largest steel manufacturing company, passed away.
15.The 16th Lok Sabha will have lowest Muslim representation (Muslim MPs) of all-time at 22. The previous low in the history of Indian Parliament was witnessed in 1957 when there were only 23 Muslim MPs. While Muslims constitute 10.5% of India’s population, its percentage representation in the new Lok Sabha will be 4.2%. In 1957, it was slightly high at 4.6%. The highest representation was in 1980 when 49 Muslims were elected as MPs.
West Bengal sends the largest number of Muslim MPs with 4 from Trinamool Congress and 2 each from Congress and CPI. The second highest number is from Bihar with RJD, NCP, Lok Jan Shakti Party and Congress sending 1 MP each. In Assam 2 Muslim MPs, both from All India United Democratic Front, have won. Kashmir has elected 3 Muslim MPs while Kerala elected 3. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have elected 1 Muslim MP each while no Muslim MP has been elected from Uttar Pradesh.
16.Following resignation of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman, Dr C. Rangarajan has also resigned. The present PMEAC chaired by Rangarajan had Saumitra Chaudhuri, VS Vyas, Pulin Nayak, and Dilip Nachane as its members. The term of PMEAC members is co-terminus with that of the Prime Minister.
17.World’s biggest democratic exercise- India’s 16th Lok Sabha (Lower House) elections which ran from April, 7 to May 12, 2014 are over and its verdict is out. Of the total 543 seats for which elections were contested, BJP led NDA achieved a thumping victory on 336 seats, whereas, Congress led UPA has faced thorough defeat in 6 key states winning just 59 seats, and the Congress, 44 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which contested on 424 seats has faced debacle as it could win just 4 seats. AAP leader and former Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejrival, who contested against the Narendra Modi from Varanasi, defeated by a huge margin of more than 3 lakh votes.
With this NDA victory, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is all set to be the head of the newly elected Indian Government.
Some high spots of Lok Sabha polls 2014:
It was 16th Lok Sabha election.
Election Commission of India conducted election in 9 phases, longest election in the country’s history.
8,251 candidates contested for 543 constituencies in India.
814.5 million People were eligible voters, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009, making this the largest-ever election in the world.
Average election turnout was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.
With more than six times the seats of its closest contenders, Modi’s is the most decisive mandate for a leader since the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son to office. Since 1989, India has been governed by coalitions.
With 282 seats, the BJP has won the highest number of seats by a single party in the modern, post-regional politics era, compared with 244 for the Congress in 1991 and 206 for it in 2009.
It is the worst ever performance by Congress compared to its show in other previous General Elections.
Since 1977, the BJP is the first non-Congress party to defeat Congress by such a huge margin. However, the biggest tally of seats achieved by a non-Congress party is 295 won by the Janata Party in the 1977 post-Emergency election that ousted Mrs. Gandhi from office.
BJP registered its biggest win in Uttar Pradesh winning 71 seats despite a big coalition partner, the best performance by a single party in the state since 1984 when the Congress won 83 of 85 seats.
Results Lok Sabha Polls 2014:
ALLIANCE TALLY
NDA (BJP + Allies) 335
UPA (Congress + Allies) 59
AAP 4
SP 5
BSP 0
AITC 34
JD(U) 2
LEFT 11
ADMK 37
OTHERS 56
TOTAL 543/543
VOTE SHARE:
Alliance Vote share (%)
NDA 35
UPA 23
LEFT 4
AITC 4
OTHERS 34
18.India’s largest telecom company Bharti Airtel raised around $2 billion in a dual currency international bond sale. It is the largest debt issuance by a domestic company till date. Bharti sold dual currency dollar and euro bonds to raise the money which will be used for repayment and refinancing of existing foreign currency debt. It is a first dual currency issuance by an Indian issuer and also largest fund raising exercise at a single time by an Indian issuer.
What are Dual Currency Bonds?
Dual Currency Bonds pay interest coupons in one currency and principal redemption for a fixed sum in a second currency, often the dollar.
19.Former IB chief, Rajiv Mathur took over as the new Chief Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.
20.Narendra Kumar Verma was selected as Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) by Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).
21.Nabam Tuki sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh
22.Ashwin B. Pandya appointed as the Chairman of the Central Water Commission & ex-officio Secretary of the Government of India.
23.An RBI committee headed by former chairman of Axis Bank PJ Nayak has said in its report that the government should bring down its stake in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to below 50%.
24.The government appointed Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the next Chief of the Indian Army. The Union Cabinet cleared the name of Vice Army Chief Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh Suhag as the successor to Gen Bikram Singh, who will retire on July 3, 2014.
Suhag was the most senior officer in the Indian Army after Bikram Singh. He was recommended by the Ministry of Defence for further consideration by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
25.According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA),India will overtake Japan to become the world’s third largest oil consumer behind the US and China by 2025.
As per EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook:
India’s oil consumption will increase from 3.68 million barrels per day (bpd), or 173.5 million tonnes, in 2012 to 5.19 million bpd in 2025, catching up with Japan’s 4.38 million bpd consumption. Japan consumed 4.75 million bpd of oil in 2012.
At present, India is the fourth largest oil consumer in the world behind the US, China and Japan.
Though the US will remain the world’s biggest oil consumer but its demand growth will be almost negligible.
With 3% compounded annual growth rate, India’s oil consumption growth rate from 2012 to 2040 will be highest in the world. Its oil consumption will reach 6.11 million bpd in 2030 and 8.33 million bpd in 2040.
India meets around 80% of India’s oil requirements through imports.
In 2013, India overtook Japan as the world’s third-biggest importer of crude oil.
According to International Energy Agency, India will become the world’s largest oil importer by 2020.