Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri spoke to IANS on Wednesday about important issues like the impact of the Israel-Iran conflict, India's fuel supply, and the country's growing economy.

In the interview, he shared how India is prepared to deal with global challenges and how government efforts have helped improve energy access for people across the country.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation:

The Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, ended the day on the lower side, as buying was seen in auto and private bank stocks. The trading session remained volatile as rising tensions between Israel and Iran kept investors on edge.

The Sensex, after slipping to an intra-day low of 81,237, settled at 81,444.66 -- down by 138.64 points, or 0.17 per cent. Similarly, the Nifty closed at 24,812.05, losing 41.35 points, or 0.17 per cent.

"With the supportive base of the domestic macros, the long-term outlook remains intact and investors are likely to be focused on high-quality large-cap stocks until greater clarity emerges," said Vinod Nair of Geojit Investments Limited.

Investors will keep an eye on the US Fed policy later today, and the prospect of higher inflation due to the tariff threat may lead the FOMC to keep the rates unchanged, he added.

Within the Sensex pack, top losers included TCS, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, Bajaj Finserv, and NTPC -- all declining up to 1.79 per cent.

After reports surfaced that Standard Chartered is facing RBI regulatory scrutiny in India over alleged lapses in derivatives sales, the lender on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank conducts annual inspections of banks, and this is just part of a routine examination.

According to reports, the central bank raised concerns following alleged sales by the lender to small and medium-sized enterprises of target redemption forwards, "a product that can cause significant losses".

The RBI also raised issues regarding the bank’s maintenance of reserves and the accounting treatment of forward rate agreement trades in previous fiscals.

A Standard Chartered spokesperson told that the Reserve Bank conducts an annual inspection of banks.

India’s fiscal dynamics have improved at the aggregate level post-pandemic, with a most notable shift in the quality of spending, which is reflected in the higher capital expenditure by the government over the last five years, according to a Morgan Stanley report.

The report highlights that the improving fiscal dynamics bode well for the growth mix and inflation management of the Indian economy.

The faster pace of consolidation in revenue deficit is reflective of an improved spending mix, not only by the Centre but also by the states. Indeed, a key change post-pandemic has been the shift towards higher capex by the centre, with Central government capex doubling to 3.2 per cent of GDP in FY2025 from 1.6 per cent of GDP in FY2020 (pre-pandemic), the report further states.

Similarly, states' capex is tracking at 2.3 per cent of GDP in F2025 from 1.9 per cent of GDP pre-pandemic.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is holding its board meeting on Wednesday, and some important decisions related to startups, public sector companies, and foreign investors are likely to be on the agenda.

One of the key topics expected to be discussed is whether startup founders can continue to hold employee stock options (ESOPs) after their company goes public.

Currently, once a startup founder is classified as a promoter during the IPO process, they are no longer allowed to receive ESOPs.

However, SEBI believes the rules are not clear about whether founders who were granted ESOPs before being labeled promoters can still exercise their stock options -- both vested and unvested -- after the IPO.

India's small-cap segment has seen a fivefold rise in market capitalisation over the last seven calendar years, a new report said on Wednesday.

The data compiled by Bajaj Finserv AMC said that the market capitalisation of small-cap companies grew from Rs 17 lakh crore in 2017 to Rs 92 lakh crore by the end of 2024 -- registering a strong Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27.6 per cent.

In comparison, large-cap stocks saw a CAGR of 14.5 per cent and mid-caps grew at 21.6 per cent during the same period.

This highlights the outperformance of small caps and their growing importance in the Indian stock market.

The report also shows that the contribution of small-cap companies to the total market capitalisation has increased 1.4 times in the last three years.

Participating in the Outreach Session of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for "strict action against countries who support and promote terrorism."

His statements assume significance at a time when Pakistan's Chief of the Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir is in the United States and will meet President Donald Trump over lunch in White House on Wednesday.

Emphasising the security challenges, PM Modi called upon countries to strengthen the global fight against terrorism.

Thanking the global community for their strong support to India in its fight against terrorism, PM Modi expressed that the "Pahalgam terror attack was not just an assault on India, but on the entire humanity."

Entities operating in the Indian defence sector are expected to sustain robust growth momentum, with likely revenue expansion of 15-17 per cent in FY26, a report showed on Wednesday.

The healthy revenue growth is primarily driven by strong execution progress on the back of a robust order book position, with order book/operating income (OB/OI) ratio at 4.4 times as of FY25 end, according to an ICRA analysis.

Over the years, the government has implemented numerous policy initiatives, with ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ at its core, to enhance domestic defence production capabilities, encourage investments and expand exports.

These include the liberalisation of FDI policies in the defence sector, continuation of the defence offset policy, establishment of two Defence Industrial Corridors and a sustained push towards indigenisation through the notification of five ‘Positive Indigenisation Lists’ and the online indigenisation portal ‘SRIJAN’.

As dozens of flights to and from Indonesia’s resort island of Bali were cancelled on Wednesday after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano erupted, Air India flight AI2145 from Delhi to Bali was advised to return to Delhi in the interest of passenger safety, the airline said.

The eruption occurred on the eastern island of Flores, where the 1,584-metre volcano forced authorities to raise its alert status to the highest level on Indonesia’s four-tier scale.

As the Air India spokesperson said, the AI2145 flight safely landed back in Delhi, and all passengers disembarked.

“Inconvenience caused to passengers is sincerely regretted, and every effort has been made to minimise it by providing hotel accommodation to the affected passengers. Full refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling have also been offered to them if opted,” said the spokesperson.

According to Bali airport operator Angkasa Pura Indonesia, “Due to volcano activity of Lewatobi Laki-Laki in East Nusa Tenggara, several flights at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport are cancelled”.

The domestic benchmark indices opened lower on Wednesday amid rising geopolitical tensions, but turned green in the early trade as buying was seen in the auto, IT and PSU bank sectors.

At around 9.32 am, Sensex was trading 160.49 points or 0.20 per cent up at 81,743.79 while the Nifty added 57.40 point or 0.23 per cent at 24,910.80.

Nifty Bank was up 33 points or 0.06 per cent at 55,747.15 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,358.95 after dropping 20.35 points or 0.03 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,412.80 after declining 7.55 points or 0.04 per cent.

According to analysts, the market's hopes for de-escalation in in the Middle East war faded, as US President Donald Trump called for ‘Unconditional Surrender’ from Iran. Latest posts by Trump and the US defence movements in West Asia signal aggravation of the conflict, said market experts.

However, there is no panic in global equity markets and it appears that the markets’ assessment is that this conflict will end soon without impacting the global economy," added Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.