Examining Australia & India’s FTA

Not everyone got what they wanted in the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and India, according to Mugunthan Siva from India Avenue Investment Management. However, he notes that the agreement leaves the door open for further negotiations down the line and is a good starting point. Mugunthan isn’t particularly concerned by the news of India’s state run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals purchasing one million barrels of Russian oil at a steep discount, pointing out India imports around four million barrels of oil per day, so in the grand scheme of things – Russia isn’t even a drop in the water for India’s energy supply, accounting for less than 1% of its imports. In terms of M&A news coming out of India, Mugunthan also takes us through the merger of two of India’s largest companies, HDFC and HDFC Bank.