Currency slips to close at all-time low of 43.68 to a dollar
Mumbai : With dollar remittances from the FIIs into the country cooling down, and a great demand for the dollar, the rupee ended at an all-time low of 43.6775/6825 to the dollar on Tuesday, just a whisker short of its all time low of 43.70. It was only the dollar sales by the State Bank at the fag-end of the trading hours, that checked the fall of the Indian currency any further.

Forward premiums continued to trudge downwards, touching a 68-month low, with the last fall in forward premiums being in July-September 1994.
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ONGC Videsh to bid for stakes in Russian oil cos
Moscow: ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) Videsh, India’s apex oil and gas exploration agency, is planning to invest several hundred million dollars in the Russian oil and natural gas industry. A senior official of the Russian fuel and energy ministry said that the Indian government has already decided to allocate funds for investment in the country's oil and gas sector.

ONGC Videsh has, in fact, been conducting negotiations to buy shares in some important oil fields like Tataneft in Tatarstan and Sakhalin Neft in Russia's far east. The company is also considering equity possession in Luk Oil, Rosneft and Sidanco, the crown jewels of the Russian oil industry.

India had substantial cooperation with the former Soviet Union in the oil industry. India received about 5.5m tonnes of crude oil from the erstwhile Soviet Union in a year. This cooperation declined fast following Soviet disintegration.

The two countries have also been exploring export of oil and oil products to India by Luk Oil as well as joint cooperation in India, Russia and third countries.

It has also been decided to set up a task force between the giant Russian gas corporation Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, and the Gas Authority of India (GAIL) to explore the possibility of joint development of gas projects in India, Russia and third countries.

The two countries are also considering a proposal for Russian export of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India.
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