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CIL to acquire coal mines in Africa, Australia, Indonesia
PowerGrid gets $ 400 million loan from ADB
Orissa Govt signs MoUs worth Rs 22,975 cr
TRAI for review of broadband policy
Direct flight launched between Delhi, New York
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Assocham for food regulatory authority
IBM chief meets PM
Emami Paper to set up two mills
Spice clarifies
Aurobindo Pharma Q2 net up by 42 pc
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CIL to acquire coal mines in Africa, Australia, Indonesia
New Delhi, November 3 Coal Videsh Ltd, CIL's 100 per cent subsidiary, wants to acquire stakes in either running coal mines or a coal block in South Africa, Australia, Indonesia,
Zimbabwe and Mozambique capable of producing metullargical coal (used for manufacturing steel) and low-ash, non-coking coal (used for producing power), CIL Chairman and Managing Director Shashi Kumar told reporters here. "We have submitted proposal for forming Coal Videsh Ltd to the government for approval. We expect necessary clearance by end of current financial year," he said. "Coal prices (worldover) are very high," he said but did not say the amount of money CIL was willing to spend for its overseas venture. Coal Videsh is inspired by success of ONGC Videsh Ltd, a subsidiary of India's largest oil and gas producer ONGC for overseas oil and gas field acquisitions. Faced with reserves which meet only 30 per cent of the oil demand and barely half of the gas requirement, OVL has acquired properties in 13 countries, including Australia, Egypt, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Sudan and Vietnam. Kumar said India, which has world's 10 per cent of coal reserves in 242 billion tonnes, faced a peculiar problem of coal being high in ash content. Of the total reserves, 93 billion tonnes were proved reserves and only 52 billion tonnes recoverable. "India has been importing low ash content coal and our overseas venture is aimed at securing mines which could supplement these," he said. CIL, which posted a net profit of Rs 4,880 crore on a turnover of Rs 30,600 crore in 2004-05, may also enter into barter deals where it could offer a stake in its mines in India to a foreign firm in lieu of getting a stake in overseas mines, Kumar
added. — PTI
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Inks pact with ONGC
The ONGC today tied up with CIL for gasification of coal reserves in the country at an estimated cost of Rs 75 crore.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) envisages use of technology from Russia's Skochinksy Institute of Mining to convert underground coal into methane gas that can be used as fuel in industries, for supplementing availability of domestic natural gas. The MoU was signed by ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Subir Raha and CIL Chairman and Managing Director Shashi Kumar. ''We hope to begin commercial production of gas by 2009,'' Mr Raha said. ''Even if 5 per cent of coal reserves in Gujarat was converted into gas, it would yield 200 million standard cubic metres per day of gas for 25 years,'' he added. However, such a gas would contain only 24 per cent methane as compared to 98 per cent in natural gas. It would also have only 10-30 per cent of the calorific value of natural gas. The ONGC Chairman said 15 cities in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been identified for the pilot project, based on whose results a detailed feasibility report (DFR) would be prepared by 2006-end for launching a commercial
project. — UNI
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PowerGrid gets $ 400 million loan from ADB
New Delhi, November 3 A loan agreement was signed by PGCIL Chairman R.P. Singh and ADB Country Director Tadashi Kondo here today. “PGCIL has geared up to award contracts for projects valuing about $ 300 million progressively in the next three months out of the total loan of $ 400 million, which is a major achievement in its own right,” Mr R.P. Singh said in a statement. The government extended a guarantee for the 20-year loan which would be utilised to fund a basket of transmission projects, including the National Power Grid, during 2005-09. PGCIL would use the loans for
transmitting 2,500 MW of power from the Kudankulum Atomic Power Plant and Neyveli Lignite Power Plant to the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry. This is the third ADB loan to PGCIL. Earlier, the power utility had obtained $ 275 million and $ 250 million from the Manila-based multilateral funding agency. The ADB loan assumes importance in the wake of UPA’s ambitious target of providing power to all by 2012.
— PTI
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Orissa Govt signs MoUs worth Rs 22,975 cr
Bhubaneswar, November 3 While the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) signed a revised MoU for setting up a 6 million tonne per annum capacity steel project in the state, Bhushan Steel and Strips Ltd signed an agreement with the government for establishment of a 3 million tonne steel plant with an investment of Rs 5,828 crore. The MoUs were signed in the presence of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat today. JSPL had earlier signed an MoU with the government on October 18, 2004 for setting up a two million tonnes per annum capacity steel project with an investment of Rs 3,850 crore in two phases at Deojhar in Keonjhar district. The company, however, came forward with an altered project profile subsequently in July last to establish the 6 million tonne plant in two phases with an investment of Rs 13,135 crore. The JSPL and Bhushan proposals were cleared by the high-powered Project Clearance Committee on September 29 last.The other companies, which signed MoUs today, are Rungta Mines Ltd, Stats Steel India (P) Ltd, Jai Balaji Jyoti Steels Ltd, Brand Alloys Ltd, and Eastern Steels and Power Ltd. Bhushan Steel’s 3 million tonne project would come up at Meramundali in Dhenkanal district on the NH-42 which would also have a 155 MW power
plant. — PTI
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TRAI for review of broadband policy
New Delhi, November 3 The Broadband Policy, 2004, had set a target of three million subscribers by the end of 2005 with PSU operators BSNL and MTNL contributing 1.5 million. However, the progress report submitted by various operators indicated 0.26 million subscribers belonging to PSUs and 0.35 million to the private service providers. In a letter to the Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, the regulatory body asked the government to “reconsider the TRAI recommendations pertaining to local loop unbundling and fiscal incentives for broadband.” “This can help the owners of local loops to generate extra revenue from the loops whose capacity to carry high- speed data is being idled and also the country can meet the targets set by the policy,” TRAI said. The regulatory body said local loop owners should be given an opportunity to decide the area where they would make their own investments for providing the broadband services and also to decide on the type of unbundling depending on their commercial objectives. It said the local loops that were installed five year ago were only recommended to be unbundled and those installed in the past five years were left to be utilised by the owners themselves. The fiscal measures suggested by TRAI include exemption from the payment of service tax, which is 8 per cent of the value of the service provided, for the next five years. The government should recommend to all state governments to waive sales tax on goods and services transacted through electronic mode (e-commerce) for the next five years up to the limits to be prescribed by the Centre. TRAI sought waiving of entertainment tax, currently about 30 per cent in certain states, levied on broadband subscriptions and entertainment services. The regulatory body said all corporations should be allowed to give Rs 6,000 per annum allowance to employees for broadband services access at home. This allowance should be removed from taxable income for the corporation, and the same facility should be extended to self-employed professionals.
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Direct flight launched between Delhi, New York
New Delhi, November 3 The flights will cut travel time between New Delhi and New York by over two-and-a-half hour and shorten existing journey times between New Delhi and most US mainland cities. Continental, the world's sixth largest airline, plans to connect more Indian cities in future. In June, the airline launched non-stop service between New York and Beijing. The New Delhi-New York/Newark flights will be operated on a 283-seat Boeing 777-200ERs (extended range) aircraft, carrying 48 passengers in business class cabin and 235 in economy class with the total flying time being 15 hours 50 minutes westbound and 13 hours 55 minutes eastbound. The Flight departs from the Indira Gandhi International Airport daily at 11.45 pm, arriving in New York/Newark at 5.05 am the next day. The return flight departs from New York/Newark daily at 8.50 pm and will arrive in Delhi at 9.15 pm the next day. American Airlines is planning to start daily non-stop flights between New Delhi and Chicago from November 15.
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Assocham for food regulatory authority
New Delhi, November 3 “The proposed authority, which should be an apex food authority, be empowered to regulate the entire food sector to strictly ensure that no food adulteration takes place as also misbranded food products are not sold after the Food Safety and Standard Bill, 2005, is enacted,’’ Assocham said. In a paper prepared on the “Food Safety and Standard Bill, 2005: Implications for food safety”, it has been stressed that the suggested authority should be responsible for creating standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying an appropriate system for enforcing various standards that are notified in the draft Bill. Releasing the paper, Assocham President Anil K. Agarwal said that the proposed body should also be entrusted with the task of prescribing the maximum permissible limits for use of food additives, pesticide residues, residues of veterinary drugs and contaminants. The chamber has also stated that the proposed body should be made responsible for designing mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in the certification of the food business.
— UNI
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IBM chief meets PM
New Delhi, November 3 Palmisano, who called on the Prime Minister, earlier assured Maran during a video conference that he would support various initiatives taken by the Department of IT on open source standards and e-governance, sources said. Officials of DIT and IBM will work together to set the modalities on these open source support systems. Details of the meeting between Palmisano and Singh, which lasted 30 minutes, were not available. The IBM chief, who arrived here on November 1, would wind up his visit tomorrow. Palmisano's India visit is in line with IBM's continued focus on strategic emerging growth countries like India, China, Russia and Brazil.
— PTI
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Emami Paper to set up two mills
Kolkata, November 3 “We have taken up a greenfield project at Balasore at an investment of Rs 350 crore, which will be adjacent to our existing unit there,” Emami Group joint chairman R. S. Goenka said here today. The company, currently having two mills at Balasore (Orissa) and Dakshineswar (West Bengal), was also planning another unit near Wapi or Pune in Maharashtra at a cost of about Rs 550 crore, he said. However, while the Balasore project has been finalised, the unit in Maharashtra was at the planning stage. Besides, Emami was also looking at inorganic growth by taking over a running paper mill in Maharashtra. “We have identified two paper mills for the purpose and are currently negotiating with the companies for a possible deal,” he said. “The greenfield project at Balasore, once completed, will make us the largest private player in the newsprint industry if other manufacturers remain static,” Mr Goenka said.
— PTI
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Spice clarifies
Chandigarh, November 3 This was said by Mr Mukul Khanna, General Manager (Marketing), in response to a news item “Spice, Tata network congestion above acceptable limit:TRAI” published in The Tribune on November 3. A press note said “the figures of congestion reflected in the TRAI study are of far-end congestion. These are caused due to other operators’ internal or terminating end congestion. Moreover, the lack of direct interconnectivity between networks was due to the non-availability of adequate connections and lack of interconnectivity between various networks.
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