Page 452 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

Cauvery Delta, and onshore mainly in the states of Assam, Gujarat and
Rajasthan. India is the fourth-largest consumer of oil in the world and
imported $82.1 billion worth of oil in the first three quarters of 2010, which
had an adverse effect on its current account deficit. The petroleum industry in

India mostly consists of public sector companies such as Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)

and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). There are some major private
Indian companies in the oil sector such as Reliance Industries Limited (RIL),
which operates the world’s largest oil refining complex.

As of December 2011, India had an installed power generation capacity of
185.5 gigawatts (GW), of which thermal power contributed 65.87%,
hydroelectricity 20.75%, other sources of renewable energy 10.80%, and
nuclear power 2.56%. India meets most of its domestic energy demand

through its 106 billion tonnes of coal reserves. India is also rich in certain
renewable sources of energy with significant future potential such as solar,

wind and biofuels (jatropha, sugarcane). India’s huge thorium reserves —
about 25% of the world’s reserves — are expected to fuel the country’s
ambitious nuclear energy programme in the long run. India’s dwindling

uranium reserves stagnated the growth of nuclear energy in the country for
many years. However, the Indo-US nuclear deal has paved the way for India
to import uranium from other countries.

Infrastructure

India has the world’s third-largest road network, covering more than 4.3
million kilometres and carrying 60% of freight and 87% of passenger traffic.
Indian Railways is the fourth-largest rail network in the world, with a track
length of 1,14,500 kilometres. India has 13 major ports, handling a cargo

volume of 850 million tonnes in 2010.

India has a national teledensity rate of 74.15% with 926.53 million
telephone subscribers, two-thirds of them in urban areas, but internet use is

rare, with around 13.3 million broadband lines in India in December 2011.
However, this is growing and is expected to boom following the expansion of

3G and WiMAX services.