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New Delhi: 2025 has been a year of shocks for Corporate India. Few favorable but mostly not. As in the past, there was much flattering done to deceive. While India become world’s fourth largest economy, there were record gross GST collections, UPI adopted by many countries like UAE, France, Singapore etc.,
Jio became world’s largest fixed wireless access (FWA) provider, Tata Group became India’s first $30 billion brand, these were offset by Trump Administration’s Tariff Hikes, restraints on purchase of Russian Crude and other restrictive practices which impacted exports & imports of metals, engineering goods, chemicals etc. difficult Visa Processes, EV Rides were hit as BluSmart faced allegations of financial irregularities, Reserve Bank of India reduced Repo Rate in February, April, and June as it settled at 5.50%, there were substantial Layoffs in Tech & Startup Sectors, India’s trade deficit expanded to 22 billion USD from 9 billion USD due to high energy imports, gold purchases and global commodity fluctuations; to top it all, near the year end, IndiGo had one of the worst disruptions in Indian aviation history, cancelling over thousand flights nationwide. Additionally, Terrorism raised its ugly head, potholes once again claimed many lives, pollution levels in the Capital & North India rose to alarming levels, even leading to cancellation of international level cricket matches, several Fire incidents claimed lives. Neighboring countries saw tumultuous events; riots, civic unrest leading to toppling of governments and eventually dispensations becoming Anti-Indian. All in all, a mixed bag.
This year end, trying to read into the minds of powers to be, most observers, have stumbled upon a startling truth about the Indian Corporate Sector. Although not too discernable but there are definitive shifts toward monopoly in strategic sectors in India. NewsIP has always sought to bring to its readers latest information based on proven facts. This New Year too, along with Best Wishes, it is bringing material which every Indian citizen should be familiar with. In the Aviation Sector, after the sellout of Air India there is no government company to fall back upon in case of dire eventualities. IndiGo’s brazen and deliberate actions drove home the fact, most eloquently, monopolies ultimately are dangerous! Government of India has now suddenly decided to open up the sector to newer players so that some alternatives mat be available. How righteous! The policy makes are after all human, they have their right to err. Anyway, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress have been granted regulatory clearances by the civil aviation ministry. Take the case of the Telecom Sector; Jio & Airtel are the only players who can be said to be of any worth. A duopoly of sorts here. There is now talks about investing in reviving the Telecom Sector with an allocation of Rs 95,298 Crore to Telecom & IT, resulting in the stocks of PSUs – HFCL, ITI Ltd, and MTNL rising considerably. Cement is another industry which is now totally controlled by Private players. India’s cement industry is likely to grow at 6-7% in FY27. Houses of Birla and Adani control the lion’s share of the cement market in India. The story of Coal is a bit different; India is the second largest producer and consumer of Coal.
Since Nationalization in 1973 Coal India had a good run. But in 2018 Private Companies were allowed, in a bid towards Privatization, of the Industry. The electricity Sector accounts for 64.07% of the total coal consumed in the country in 2020–21. Other significant consumers include the steel and washery industry (6.65%), the sponge iron industry (1.06%), the cement industry (0.75%), and fertilizers and chemicals (0.19%). Here too Tatas and Adanis hold sway. CIL is gradually fading out. India is the third-largest producer of electricity in the world. It produced 1824.2 TWh of power in FY 2024-25, with only about 25% generated from non-fossil sources. NTPC, a premium PSU, at one time, was a force to reckon with in this sector. Adani Power Ltd. is today slowly but surely gaining ground. Some figures (as of 28.05.2025) :
Adani: Net Profit 12,750 23,953 Net Profit Margin %
NTPC Net Profit22.68% 15.92% Earnings per share 33.55 24.16
One can see that NTPC has a much higher scale of operations but Adani Power has better operational efficiency and manageable debt. In most sectors the story is the same.
There is a determined move for eviction of PSUs. The Oil & Gas Sector considered most strategic and essential determinant of Indian economy is the last bastion where private sector domination and resultant monopoly has not succeeded as yet. India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude Oil, it imports the bulk of its requirements. India’s domestic crude oil production, in April-November, declined to 18.8 million tonnes from 19.1 million tonnes, the year-ago. Consumption of petroleum products, rose to 160.2 million tonnes from 158 million tonnes. Total production of petroleum products from domestically-produced Crude Oil in the eight months was 18.3 million tonnes, reflecting a self-sufficiency level of 11.4 per cent and import dependency of 88.6 per cent. India’s Oil imports in value terms in the first eight months of the current financial year 2025-26 (FY26) were $80.9 billion. In fact, this scenario is not new.
The major Oil Refining & Marketing PSUs have been managing pretty well in this vital sector for a very very long time. They have been giving handsome returns to the govt. exchequer. However, the Private players wanting to have a share of the kitty of black gold, chose to play the familiar ‘level playing ground’ refrain, and obtained several concessions. Soon, many of the infrastructure, owned by Govt. PSUs were being used by them, at very lucrative terms without commensurate capital investments and concurrent risks. The trained manpower available in the PSUs was ready made for rustling. Non-disclosure, Non-Compete clauses be damned. Very rapidly, these private ventures started rolling in unprecedented profits, so much so that government had to impose windfall taxes. They were kept insulated from many responsibilities which government companies had to bear. Inclusive policies, recruitment restrictions, RTI, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Ujjawala Yojana, several types of Audits, Vigilance inspections, restrictions on Outsourcing, et al, were given a go by. But if there was some sort of hard challenge, in the environment, the underpinning of Government intervention in their favor, subsidy support etc. immediately rose to surface.
They could eat the cake and have it too. Now even, Green fuels, Alternatives and Sustainable energy sectors appear to be domains reserved for private players. For PSUs it’s almost a ‘No Go Zone’ or at best be only bit players. Now many say, this is only to be expected, in the current worldwide dispensation. But is it really so? It’s well known that many nations have retained National Oil Companies, even die hard Capitalist ones! Why they went against the so called current trend of privatization in this sector? There has to be a solid reason behind it. India must not forget its own history when the foreign, ‘seven sisters’ Oil companies, expressed reservations during War times. It is not fear mongering that some experts are doing today. They say that there are moves already afoot for leadership reduction at board level, dismantling of vital installations/amalgamations without consequent examination of operational preparedness & safety, loss of market share, non-expansion of profitable Petchem Business, no serious efforts in diversification into allied businesses renewables, exodus of trained and experienced personnel, widespread lowering of morale, increase of court cases by serving and retired personnel are some indications that all is not well in Oil PSUs.
Many economic thinkers believe national priorities and security cannot be pandered for mere lucre. Profit as the sole motive of a company does not auger well for developing countries like India. It still occupies 105 Rank in Global Multidimensional Poverty Index. Economic traffic jams due to monopoly by some companies are not mere illusions. IndiGo proved this all too well. ‘On-Time, Low Fares, Courteous and Hassle-Free’ suddenly morphed into Blues from IndiGo. Blue! There is an existential truth behind retention of government interest in businesses run in any country. It may not be vocalized. Come to think of it, no Indian citizen actually empathized with the lamentations of the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry, in wake of recent IndiGo crisis. It simply did not make for a good hearing! It was clear that warning signs were ignored. A duopoly was allowed and even encouraged. Will the powers to be, learn, even now? Be fearful of a somewhat foreseeable doomsday. Avoid being at the receiving end of complete private sector hegemony. Throwing caution to wind, never makes sense for businesses or economics of a nation. A serious need exists to look ahead before it’s too late. Monopolies, duopolies, oligopolies do not make for an equitable country. We need to act and act today. A case for Carpe Diem surely exists!
