The Indian share markets continue to trade flat with positive bias during the noon trading session ahead of the Reserve Bank's policy review meet. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with auto, PSU, oil & gas stocks leading the pack of gainers. Whereas, healthcare and information technology stocks heading the losers.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 95 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 33 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index both are trading up by 0.3%. Gold prices, per 10 grams, are trading at Rs 27,870 levels. Silver price, per kilogram is trading at Rs 40,951 levels. Crude oil is trading at Rs 3,445 per barrel. The rupee is trading at 68.03 to the US$.

According to an article in The Economic Times, Public sector companies (PSUs) are likely to invest Rs 3 trillion in hydrocarbon sector in 3 years. The government expects foreign direct investment (FDI) in the hydrocarbon sector to pick up but the key driver will continue to be the public sector companies.

Reportedly, the sector attracted 40% more FDI in the sector in the past two and a half years than in the previous corresponding period. According to Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary Ramesh Abhishek, in the last two and a half years our FDI policy has been hugely liberalized and the result has been positive. Further, he stated that in last two and a half years we have attracted US$ 129 billion of FDI. However, there is a huge need for investment given that India is the third largest consumer of energy in the world.

Meanwhile, with India committed to replace ‘Red Tape' with ‘Red Carpet', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called upon global hydrocarbon companies to come and Make in India. In this regard, the government has also come up with a new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Policy.