Outcomes of the Coal Auctions for the 17 blocks conducted as on 21 Feb 2015

 

 

The Government has initiated fresh auctions of coal mines following  a court cancellation of all previous licences and the initial bidding suggests companies are keen to secure supplies as the economy improves.

 

So far, 17 blocks have been allotted till 21st Feb 2015 with one remaining which will be alloted on 22nd Feb 2015.

Below is the cumulative list of the coal blocks allotted so far.

S.No.	Coal Block	Date of Auction	Sector	Earlier Allotted to	Currently won by	Closing Bid (Rs./Ton)
1	Talabira I	14/02/2015	Power	HINDALCO	GMR Chhattisgarh Energy	478
2	Sial Ghoghri	14/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Prism Cement	Reliance Cement	1402
3	Sarisatolli	15/02/2015	Power	CESC Limited	CESC Limited	470
4	Belgaon	15/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Sunflag Iron & Steel Company	Sunflag Iron & Steel Company	1785
5	Kathautia	15/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Usha Martin	HINDALCO	2860
6	Marki Mangli III	16/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Topsworth Urja & Metal	BS Ispat	918
7	Mandla North	16/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Jaiprakash Associates	Jaiprakash Associates	2505
8	Trans Damodar	16/02/2015	Power	West Bengal Mineral Dev. Corp	The Durgapur Projects	940
9	Ardhagram	17/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Sova Ispat Limited	OCL Iron & Steel	2302
10	Chotia	17/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Prakash Industries Ltd	BALCO	3025
11	Amelia (North)	17/02/2015	Power	Madhya Pradesh Mining Corp	Jaiprakash Power	712
12	Tokisud North	18/02/2015	Power	GVK	Essar Power MP	1110
13	Gare Palma IV/5	18/02/15	Unregulated Sector	Monnet Ispat	HINDALCO	3502
14	Gare Palma IV/2 & IV/3	19/02/15	Power	Jindal Power	Jindal Power	108
15	Bicharpur	19/02/15	Unregulated Sector	Madhya Pradesh Mining Corp	Ultratech	3003
16	Gare Palma IV/4	20/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Jayaswal Neco Ltd.	HINDALCO	3001
17	Gare Palma IV/1	21/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.	BALCO	1585
18	Gare Palma IV/7	22/02/2015	Unregulated Sector	Raipur Alloy & Steel Ltd.

Read More...

Second lot of coal auctions from Feb 25; Rs 8400 cr earned till now

 

On the seventh day of auction Friday of coal blocks whose allotments were cancelled by the Supreme Court, the government said it will start the second tranche of auctions by Feb 25. The government has till now raised nearly Rs.84,000 crore.

Around 27 blocks have been allocated for the unregulated sector, while 56 blocks will go to the regulated power sector.

As per the coal Ministry, around 83 blocks will be either auctioned or allocated by March 31.

Elaborating on the figures, Swarup said that states will be able to collect royalty of Rs.12,801 crore over the span of the blocks' lives.

 

Moreover, states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh stand to gain valuable revenue via the e-auctions.

• Madhya Pradesh will get Rs 39,900 crore
• Chhattisgarh Rs.26,425 crore
• Jharkhand Rs.14,498 crore
• West Bengal Rs.13,210 crore
• Maharashtra Rs.1,819 crore
• Odisha Rs.607 crore

Source

Read More...

Hindalco Industries wins one more coal block; total 3

Hindalco Industries has bagged another mine — Gare Palma 4/4 — in the coal blocks auction. The mine has extractable reserves of 12.30 million tonnes. Hindalco how has three mines in its kitty, including two in Chhattisgarh and one in Jharkhand. The company was the highest bidder at Rs 3,001 per tonne, according to a tweet by Coal Secretary Anil Swarup.

Hindalco, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group, had successfully bid for Kathautia mine in Jharkhand on February 15 and was also awarded Gare 4/5 mine in Chhattisgarh on February 19. The company won the latest bid in a process that went on for 12 hours on Friday. The block was previously held by Jayaswal Neco Ltd.

The states in which the 17 coal blocks sold in the ongoing auction are located will receive more than Rs 1 lakh crore, including royalty, over the next 30 years on account of the sale. Also, the reverse auction of coal blocks for power generation (valued at Rs 37,050 crore) will benefit end-users in the form of tariff reduction, Swarup has stated.

The government had placed 19 coal mines up for auction in the first tranche. Jindal Power, Hindalco and Ultratech were among the bidders which bagged 17 of them.

Sunday is the last day of the auction of the first tranche. The second lot of mines will go up for auction from February 25.

 

Source

Read More...

India Signs Loan Agreement with ADB for $50 Million Loan To Boost Power Generation Capacity in Assam

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $50 million loan agreement for the second Assam Power Sector Investment Program which aims to build up the capacity of power generation and distribution systems to meet the growing energy demand in the state of Assam.

The first tranche loan of the $300 million multi-tranche financing facility will fund generation capacity enhancement and distribution efficiency improvement subprojects in the state. 

Shri Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, who signed the agreement on behalf of Government of India said that more than a third of households in the State face daily electricity cuts of 5 to 6 hours, many important businesses, such as the tea gardens, still aren’t connected to the grid, and in peak periods Assam has to buy up to 15% of its power from independent producers at very high cost, said He added that the project will finance investments to augment and improve generation capacity through the replacement of an inefficient generating plant and construction of new hydropower plant. 

Ms. Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, who signed the loan agreement for ADB said that ADB has supported Assam’s power sector since 2003 with five loans totaling $450 million, which have helped the State enact key reforms and improve transmission and distribution systems. She further said that the new loan will further support Assam to increase capacity and efficiency of power generation to meet growing local and national demand.The project agreements were signed by Sh. V. B. Pyarelal, Additional Chief Secretary (Power) on behalf of the Government of Assam and Shri K. V. Eapen, Chairman, Assam Power Generation Company Limited (APGCL). 

The project is expected to be completed by 31 December 2018.

 

Source

Read More...

Coal India to Spend Rs 12,000 Crore for Capital Expenditure, Infrastructure

Coal India Limited is planning to invest about Rs 6000 Crs towards capital expenditure in the next fiscal and an equal amount on augmenting other infrastructure, including rail connectivity.

According to a filing to BSE, CIL and its subsidiaries are proposing to invest around Rs 6,000 crore in 2015-16 towards capital expenditure. Further, an amount of around Rs 6,000 crore has been earmarked by CIL for railway and other infrastructure development for 2015-16.

 

CIL also unveiled its roadmap, of strategies to be adopted, to attain the one billion tone coal production by 2019-20. 

With the projected coal demand of the country hovering around 1,200 million tonnes (MTs) by 2019-20, at an envisaged growth rate of 7 per cent, CIL is expected to chip in one billion tonnes, of which, 908 million tonnes is the expected contribution from the identified projects.

The two CIL subsidiaries---Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd and South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) are expected to play a pivotal role in its quest of attaining the one BT production with 250 million tonnes and 240 million tonnes respectively, he said.          

In the biggest ever disinvestment exercise, the government in January sold 10 per cent stake in Coal India for about Rs 22,600 crore.

 

Source

Read More...

SunEdison planssolar parks for commercial & industrial establishments in Tamil Nadu

 

SunEdison is planning to establish a solar park of 18 MW capacity in Tiruneveli, Tamilnadu. It is also looking at more such parks in the State as more numbers of commercial establishments and industries are expected to go in for solar power systems.

With the option of open access, there is opportunity for more number of commercial and industrial electricity consumers to go in for solar power.

The company has installed over 12 MW solar energy systems in the State and solar pumpsets are a focus area. Farmers will be able to use the land during dry months too with solar power systems.

Regarding market for solar energy across the country, company said that Gujarat and Rajasthan lend more to solar energy because of the geographical advantages. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have favourable solar policies.

The company sees opportunities in rural electrification scheme. Off grid installations reduce grid power consumption in rural areas and these are small panels with battery. It has done these projects in about 100 sites in different States.

 

Source

Read More...

Rays Power Experts looks to raise Rs 400 Crs

 

Rays Power Experts is planning to raise funds of Rs 400 Crs from private equity firms.

 

According to sources, company is in discussions with Blackstone & Gujarat Venture Finance among others.

 

Rays Power sets up solar parks and provides services ranging from land identification to acquisition, supplying of solar panels and accessories, site infrastructure and maintenance, as well as installation and commissioning of projects.

 

The company is now looking to build its own solar plants and has commissioned a 100-MW solar project at Bikaner in Rajasthan. Rays Power Experts reported profit after tax of Rs 10.7 crore and revenue of Rs 230 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2014, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.

 

Source

Read More...

Government Approves INR 578 Crore FDI proposals for two renewable energy projects

Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on 4 February 2015, Government has approved 11 proposals of Foreign Direct Investment amounting to INR 1075.91 crore approximately; out of which two projects are from the power and renewable energy sectors.

Solar Arise India Projects Pvt. Ltd. has sought approval for receiving FDI from overseas investors and investing downstream in various Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) in solar power projects. The government has approved proposed FDI of Rs 216.01 Crs.

For another project that got FDI approval, BLP Wind Assets Holding Pvt. Ltd. has sought approval for setting up a joint venture firm for making downstream investments in the renewable energy sector. The government has approved proposed FDI of Rs 371 Crs.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is a government body that offers a single window clearance for proposals on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India that are not allowed access through the automatic route.

The Minister of Finance, considers the recommendations of the FIPB on proposals for foreign investment up to Rs 1200 Crs. Proposals involving foreign investment of more than INR 1200 crore require the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Source

Read More...