ONGC, IOC may spend more on buys

NEW DELHI: OIL & Natural Gas, India’s biggest explorer, and Indian Oil are set to get approval from the government to spend five times more on acquisitions, giving them greater freedom to compete with China for assetsm, reports Rakteem Katakey.

NTPC and Steel Authority of India are also expected to be permitted to make Rs 50-billion ($1.1 billion) takeovers without government clearance, Bhaskar Chatterjee, secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises said. The state-run companies, which can now invest Rs 10 billion, may get the higher limit in three weeks, he said. “This gives us more firepower,” RS Sharma, chairman and managing director at New Delhi-based ONGC, said.