NEW DELHI-Wooing the Oil Majors

NEW DELHI Wooing the Oil Majors B M THE response to the so-called oil crisis and the intolerable burden it is supposed to be putting on the Indian economy is unfolding along predictable lines. Since effective and meaningful measures to restrain consumption of oil are virtually ruled Out as too hurtful of the efficiency of the economy, there is a desperate search for other ways to meet the crisis. One of these ways, of course, is to seek additional and larger credit lines for financing imports' of crude oil and oil products on a sizeable scale. This is how combined with opening the door wide for foreign private capital to come in not only to supplement the foreign exchange resources of country but, more importantly, to impart greater dynamism and efficiency to the Indian economy and its growth processes. At least this is how official circles are beginning openly to redefine the role of foreign, aid and foreign private capital, the occasional stray references to desirability of promoting self-reliance as a political talking point notwithstanding.