State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Wednesday committed Rs 150,000 crore to Indian Railways for developing various projects. LIC would invest in one of the largest railway networks in the world over a period of five years. "LIC has taken the task of supporting Indian Railways. It is a commercial decision. LIC will invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore over a period of five years," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. The investment would be done in bonds issued by various railway entities such Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC), beginning next fiscal. On an average, LIC will be subscribing bonds worth Rs 30,000 crore over next five years, its chairman S.K. Roy told PTI after the signing of MoU between Indian Railways and LIC. When asked about that what kind of interest rate LIC would earn from this investment, Roy said, "The rate is yet to be finalised. Since it is would be a commercial decision, it would be win-win situation for both."
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"I am upset," reacted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was on Wednesday (11 March) summoned as an accused by a special court in a coal scam case by a special court but expressed confidence that he will prove his innocence in a fair trial. Of course, I am upset but this is part of life," he told reporters when asked for his reaction on the court order."I have always said I am open for legal scrutiny...I am sure the truth will prevail and I will get a chance to put forward my case with all the facts," Singh said.He said he respected the judicial process in the country and "I hope in a fair trial I will prove my innocence."Singh, who was Coal Minister in 2005 when the government allocated Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005 to Hindalco, said he had made a statement before the CBI and as Prime Minister he had issued a statement "justifying what we did".Asked whether he would contest the case, he said he would discuss the issue with his legal team.Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh were today summoned as accused in a coal scam case by a special court which observed that Singh was roped into the criminal conspiracy to "accommodate" M/s Hindalco in Talabira-II coal block allocation in 2005.Rejecting the CBI's closure report, the court also summoned Hindalco and its two top officials, Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya, as accused in the case."...prima facie it is clear that the impugned criminal conspiracy which was initially conceived by Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya and Kumar Mangalam Birla and M/s Hindalco was carried out further by roping in P C Parakh, who was Secretary (Coal), and thereafter the then Minister of Coal, Dr Manmohan Singh," Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said in his 73-page order."However, from the nature of action of the aforesaid persons, it is also prima facie clear that though Secretary Coal (Parakh) and Minister of Coal (Singh) were playing different roles, there was a concerted joint effort to somehow accommodate M/s Hindalco in Talabira-II, coal block."It was the central common objective of the impugned criminal conspiracy known to all concerned," the court said.If found guilty, the accused may face punishment of upto life imprisonment as the court has taken cognisance of offences of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by public servants or by banker, merchant or agent under the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.Reacting to the court order, Singh said he was upset but expressed confidence that truth will prevail in a fair trial."Of course, I am upset but this is part of life," he told reporters here when asked for his reaction on the court order."I have always said I am open for legal scrutiny...I am sure the truth will prevail and I will get a chance to put forward my case with all the facts," Singh added.Maintaining that he respected the judicial process in the country, Singh said, "I hope, in a fair trial, I will prove my innocence." .HINDALCO, the flagship firm of the Aditya Birla Group, said none of its officials, including Birla, have pursued any unlawful or inappropriate means for securing the allocation of the coal block.The company said in a statement that it would study the order of the court in detail "and would defend its case through legal process."Parakh expressed surprise over the court summons to him and maintained that he had done nothing wrong or illegal.This is not the first time a former PM has been summoned as accused in a criminal case. Late PM P V Narasimha Rao was made an accused and chargesheeted in three different cases, including in the JMM MPs bribery case, but was acquitted in all of them.The special court, which summoned Singh and others for April 8, observed that Singh had approved a proposal put forth by Parakh to accommodate HINDALCO in Talabira II and III coal block while ignoring the caution of two officials of the Prime Minister Office (PMO)."Again his (Singh's) approval of the proposal put-forth by P C Parakh vide his note dated September 12, 2005 to accommodate M/s HINDALCO in Talabira-II and III coal block while ignoring the words of caution put-forth by K V Pratap and Javed Usmani, the two officers of PMO in their notes dated September 21, 2005 and September 26, 2005 respectively regarding relaxation of the already approved guidelines, again prima facie shows that there was a conscious effort on his part to somehow accommodate Hindalco in Talabira-II coal block," the judge said. (Agencies)
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Queensland's new state government on Wednesday cleared plans by two Indian companies to expand a port for coal projects that are opposed by green groups worried about pollution and damage to the Great Barrier Reef. The approval, supporting separate mining projects planned by Indian conglomerates Adani Enterprises and GVK, came as a surprise. The new Labor government had been seen as less supportive of the coal industry than its predecessor conservative government. The previous government, toppled in January in a stunning election outcome, had proposed spending taxpayers' money to help fund the Abbot Point port expansion and a rail line for Adani's Carmichael project in the untapped Galilee Basin. The port expansion was to have involved dumping 3 million cubic metres of soil dredged at the port of Abbot Point into the sea about 25 km (15 miles) from the Great Barrier Reef. However, the Australian government moved earlier this year to ban all dredge dumping in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park amid concern that UNESCO's World Heritage Committee may label the reef "in danger" this year. The government said all Abbot Point dredge spoil should be dumped on land. An alternative land dumping proposal near wetlands was rejected by the new Labor government. Instead it has approved plans to dump the dredge spoil at the port itself, on a site slated for another coal terminal that has been shelved. "I've always said I support the responsible and sustainable development of the Galilee Basin and Abbot Point, and the agreement we've reached demonstrates that," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in a statement. Adani said the state government would seek approval soon from the federal government for the new dredge dumping plan. "I welcome today's announcement because it demonstrates the priority the government has placed from the outset on ensuring economic development proceeds in Queensland subject to robust environmental standards," Adani Australia CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj said in a statement. Adani's Carmichael project is more advanced in the planning process than rival GVK's Alpha project. Adani is hoping to reach a final investment decision on its project later this year. State development minister Anthony Lynham said the government would do everything it could, short of providing funding, to promote the Galilee Basin projects, including pushing for federal environmental approval for the new dredge dumping plan within the next four months. "It's vital to Queensland. It's 4,000 jobs just from the two mines - the Adani mine and the GVK mine," Lynham told Reuters in an interview by phone.
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Proceeds from the ongoing coal block auctions are likely to cross Rs 2 lakh crore, surpassing CAG's estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss on account of the allocation of blocks without auction during the UPA regime. "Likely proceeds from coal block auctions (may) cross Rs 2 lakh crore. These include e-auction proceeds, royalty proceeds and upfront payment," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said. "Apart from above, around Rs 97,000 crore of additional tariff benefit will accrue to the consumers of power through reverse auction of coal blocks," he added. His remarks come at a time when the government is set to garner over Rs 11,300 crore from sale of two mines including Utkal C to Monnet Power today, the fifth day of the second tranche of auctions. The government kitty swelled by an estimated Rs 9,537.22 crore from sale of Utkal C mine in Odisha to Monnet Power Company earlier in the day. Bidding for Lohari block in Palamu district of Jharkhand is underway and as per present bid price of Rs 1,992 a tonne, it will cross a revenue of Rs 1,800 crore. "Monnet Power was the highest bidder at (Rs) 770 (a tonne) for Utkal C Coal Block. Bidding still underway for Lohari. Presently at 1992," Swarup said. The cumulative Rs 2 lakh crore revenue to the exchequer from the sale of 32 mines so far, includes over Rs 1 lakh crore from sale of 19 mines in the first tranche. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said earlier this month that CAG's astronomical Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss figure in coal block allocations had raised some doubts initially, but the auction of less than 10 per cent of those mines (19 mines in first tranche) alone has garnered Rs 1.10 lakh crore. Official auditor CAG had said that the mines allocation without auction during the UPA period led to a loss of staggering Rs 1.86 lakh crore. The allotment of over 200 coal mines were later cancelled following a Supreme Court order, which led to the government announcing the ongoing auction. Monnet Power Company bagged the Utkal C mine in Odisha today - 5th day of the second phase of coal block auctions - for an estimated Rs 9,537.22 crore. Utkal C, meant for the power sector has an extractable reserve of 123.86 million tonnes (MT). It was previously allotted to Utkal Coal Ltd. "Auction for Utkal C block for power sector under Talcher coalfield in Angul district of Odisha, began at 11 am with a Rs 100 a tonne bid. For Lohari, the auction began at Rs 1,690 per tonne," an official told PTI. In the race for Utkal C were Adani Power, Adani Power Maharashtra, DB Power, Essar Power Gujarat, GMR Mining and Energy, Jindal India Thermal Power, Jindal Power, KSK Mahanadi Power Company, Lalitpur Power Generation Company, LANCO Barbandh Power, RKM Powergen, Sesa Sesa Sterlite, Sheesham Commercial and Simhapuri Energy. For the Lohari block in Palamu district of Jharkhand, there are 7 players in the race - Araanya Mines, Easternrange Coal Mining, Rungta Mines, SKP Mining, Tata Sponge Iron, Trimula Industries and Usha Martin. It has extractable reserve of 9.04 MT and was previously allotted to Usha Martin. In the first four days of the second tranche of auction, government has sold 12 mines mostly in eastern states to firms like Adani, Hindalco, JSW and Jindal for Rs 43,307 crore. The blocks sold in the second tranche include Ganeshpur, Mandla South, Gare Palma Sector 1V/8, Dumri, Tara, Nerad Malegaon, Mandakini, Meral, Jitpur, Moitra, Brinda and Sasai. There are two methods of bidding for auction of coal blocks -- forward bidding (for unregulated sectors like steel, cement and captive power) and reverse bidding (for specified end use for power generation). In the reverse auction, the government sets a ceiling price that is representative of production cost of Coal India. The private sector companies, which are considered more efficient, are expected to bid at lower price. For example, if the ceiling price is Rs 1,000 and the bidder bids Rs 800, then the benefit of Rs 200 is directly passed on to consumers. This would mean if the power is sold at Rs 3.50, out of which Re 1 is cost coal and the same will become 80 paise because of pass through benefit of Rs 200. Thus, the new price of power will be Rs 3.30 a unit. In case the bids touch zero, meaning that the private producer is ready to pass on the benefit of coal extraction to power consumers, there would be a forward bidding. Under the forward bidding, the companies will be required to mention the price which they are willing to give to states. Under the second leg of auction, the government has put 15 blocks for grab, which are under ready-for-production category. (Agencies)
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Oil prices will reverse their recent gains as global crude inventories begin to increase again, with US crude likely to drop as far as $40 a barrel in the near-term, Goldman Sachs said.Oil prices rose by almost a third between January and February on the back of Middle East supply disruptions, strong winter demand and high refinery margins. That followed a rout that had seen price falls of around 60 percent between June 2014 and January this year.But Goldman said that "the activity pull is sequentially weakening" and that global crude inventories would therefore rise, pushing West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude to $40 a barrel, levels last seen at the peak of the global financial crisis in late 2008, early 2009. It stood at around $49.40 on Monday (09 March)."While we continue to forecast a strong demand recovery in 2015, we believe that sequentially weaker activity, the end of winter and the end of potential restocking demand, will lead to a sequential deceleration in demand-growth as we enter the spring," the bank said.Goldman said that Brent prices would also come under renewed pressure."As a result and absent further unexpected OPEC disruptions, we expect Brent oil prices and timespreads to reverse their recent strength, although the lack of a meaningful build in the past few months leaves risk to our forecast for (WTI) oil prices remaining at $40/barrel for two quarters skewed to the upside," the bank said in a note dated March 08.The bank said that it expected "OECD Asia demand to decline in 2015 as stronger industrial production is offset by the continued switch to LNG (liquefied natural gas) for power generation and the impending start-up of the two Sendai nuclear reactors in Japan".A two-thirds drop in Asian LNG prices is making the fuel cost competitive against oil in the industrial power sector.In Japan, the regulator has given approval for several reactors to be restarted this year. All its 48 reactors were taken offline after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. In the United States, Goldman said that "the build in US inventories has surprised to the upside, especially in Cushing".The bank said that its WTI price prices forecast of $65 a barrel for 2016 was "skewed to the downside" as currently idled assets could quickly be redeployed, especially as operating costs were falling. (Reuters)
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Oil prices will reverse their recent gains as global crude inventories begin to increase again, with U.S. crude likely to drop as far as $40 a barrel in the near-term, Goldman Sachs said. Oil prices rose by almost a third between January and February on the back of Middle East supply disruptions, strong winter demand and high refinery margins. That followed a rout that had seen price falls of around 60 percent between June 2014 and January this year. But Goldman said that "the activity pull is sequentially weakening" and that global crude inventories would therefore rise, pushing West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude to $40 a barrel, levels last seen at the peak of the global financial crisis in late 2008, early 2009. It stood at around $49.40 on Monday. "While we continue to forecast a strong demand recovery in 2015, we believe that sequentially weaker activity, the end of winter and the end of potential restocking demand, will lead to a sequential deceleration in demand-growth as we enter the spring," the bank said. Goldman said that Brent prices would also come under renewed pressure. "As a result and absent further unexpected OPEC disruptions, we expect Brent oil prices and timespreads to reverse their recent strength, although the lack of a meaningful build in the past few months leaves risk to our forecast for (WTI) oil prices remaining at $40/barrel for two quarters skewed to the upside," the bank said in a note dated March 8. The bank said that it expected "OECD Asia demand to decline in 2015 as stronger industrial production is offset by the continued switch to LNG (liquefied natural gas) for power generation and the impending start-up of the two Sendai nuclear reactors in Japan". A two-thirds drop in Asian LNG prices is making the fuel cost competitive against oil in the industrial power sector. In Japan, the regulator has given approval for several reactors to be restarted this year. All its 48 reactors were taken offline after the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. In the United States, Goldman said that "the build in U.S. inventories has surprised to the upside, especially in Cushing". The bank said that its WTI price prices forecast of $65 a barrel for 2016 was "skewed to the downside" as currently idled assets could quickly be redeployed, especially as operating costs were falling. (Reuters)
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In another revenue bonanza from the ongoing auction of coal mines, the government on Sunday garnered Rs 5,164 crore from sale of two more mines to Jaypee Cement and Ambuja Cements with cumulative proceeds surging to Rs 1.57 lakh crore. The auction for Ganeshpur mine in Jharkhand, which is meant for power sector, is still on. On the fourth day of second tranche of ongoing auctions, in fierce biddings that lasted for hours, Ambuja Cement clinched Gare-Palma Sector-IV/8 block in Chhattisgarh while Jaypee Cement Corporation grabbed Mandla-South block in Madhya Pradesh. "Gare Palma IV/8 closes at (Rs) 2,291. Ambuja Cements is highest bidder. Jaypee Cement highest bidder at (Rs) 1852 for Mandla South," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said. These two mines would contribute a cumulative Rs 5,164 crore to the state exchequer. The government generated a revenue of Rs 1.52 lakh crore till on Saturday that included over Rs one lakh crore from auction of 19 mines in the first round. Two more coal blocks - Utkal C and Lohari - will be put up for auction when bidding starts tomorrow. The amount of proceeds has been calculated based on extractable reserves and highest bid price. "Auction for Ganeshpur block, which is for power sector, began at 11 am with Rs 100 bid. For Mandla South, the auction began at Rs 1,850 per tonne while for Gare Palma IV/8, it started at Rs 1,675 per tonne," an official told PTI. During the first three days of the second tranche of coal auction, the government has sold nine mines mostly in eastern states to players like Adani, Hindalco, JSW and Jindal among others for Rs 43,307 crore. The blocks sold in the second tranche include Dumri, Tara, Nerad Malegaon, Mandakini, Meral, Jitpur, Moitra, Brinda and Sasai. In the second leg of the coal block auction, government has put up 15 blocks for sale, which are under the 'ready-for- production' category. It has sold 12 out of these 15. The auctions follow the Supreme Court's decision last year to cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier this month said that CAG's astronomical Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss figure in coal block allocations had raised some doubts initially, but the auction of less than 10 per cent of those mines (19 mines in first tranche) alone has garnered Rs 1.10 lakh crore. Official auditor CAG had earlier said that mines allocation without auction during the UPA period led to loss of staggering Rs 1.86 lakh crore. Meanwhile, bidding for Ganeshpur coal block is closed now with GMR Chhatisgarh Energy bagging it for Rs 6,463 crore. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said Ganeshpur coal block closes at Rs 704 per tonne. (PTI)
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Paradip Port Trust (PPT) on Saturday signed a concession agreement with Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT) for construction of a Rs 430 crore berth for container traffic and clean cargo handling. A special purpose vehicle was set up to execute the project, a PPT official said, adding a multipurpose berth would be set up through public private partnership basis. PICT became the operator of this proposed terminal after being selected through a competitive bidding process, a release by PPT said. The concessionaire would be responsible for financing, designing, construction, commissioning of the project along with operation, management and maintenance under the concession agreement, the release said. On completion of construction, five million tonnes of cargo per annum would be added to the capacity of the port. The berth would be equipped with modern equipment like mobile harbour cranes and rubber tyre gantry cranes to handle non-hazardous and dust-free cargo, including iron and steel products, aluminium, ingots, pig iron, fertilisers, food, grains, sugar and containers. (PTI)
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