New Delhi, October 15: A consortium of experts and CEOs of Indian and global oil companies met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. During the interaction, the industry leaders acknowledged the steps taken by the Centre towards boosting the ease of doing business since 2014.

"Appreciate the steps taken by government over last 4 years, for ease of doing business and specifically in energy sector in India." said the statement issued by the experts, with a special mention of India’s competitive ranking from upstream investment point of view which has gone up from 56 to 44. Ease of Doing Business Rankings Released: Andhra Pradesh Bags First Position, List of States & Their Rank.

At the meeting held today, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were also present, along with Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr Rajiv Kumar.

The delegation of industry experts who met the top decision-makers of the government, included Saudi Oil Minister Khalid A Al Falih, BP CEO Bob Dudley, Total head Patrick Fouyane, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal.

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In the World Bank report release earlier in the year, India's overall ranking in 'ease of doing business' index improved from 130th to 100th. The decision was attributed to the steps taken by PM Modi to curb red-tapism and bureaucracy hindrance.

The meeting with global oil companies' CEOs also comes in the backdrop of India appealing the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC) to stabilise the crude oil prices. The rising crude has sent shockwaves across the domestic market, bringing both retail and wholesale inflation on an upswing.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 15, 2018 04:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).