Government will provide calibrated marketing freedom to incentivise oil, gas production

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said that oil and gas discovery and exploration of gas in difficult areas will be incentivised by giving them calibrated marketing freedom. This is a major reform measure. As part of our drive towards self-sufficiency, the government is considering to incentivise gas production from deep-water, ultra deep-water and high pressure-high temperature areas, which are presently not exploited on account of higher cost and higher risks.

In the power sector, the government is drawing-up a comprehensive plan, spanning next 15 to 20 years, to augment the investment in nuclear power generation. Budgetary allocation up to Rs3000 crore per annum, together with public sector investments, will be leveraged to facilitate the required investment for this purpose.

Jaitley said that government will permit mobilization of additional finances to the extent of Rs31,300 crore by NHAI, PFC, REC, IREDA, NABARD and Inland Water Authority through raising of Bonds during 2016-17. In the other segments of the infrastructure sector, the Government has achieved the highest coal production growth in over two decades, highest ever capacity addition in generation, highest ever increases in transmission lines and in distribution of LED bulbs.