Anil Swarup shifted; Susheel Kumar is new coal secretary
As part of a high-level bureaucratic reshuffle, the government today shifted coal secretary Anil Swarup to the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) as Secretary, School Education and Literacy. He was replaced by Susheel Kumar who is at present serving as Secretary, Department of Border Management in the Home Ministry.
Swarup, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the UP cadre, was handed the charge of the coal ministry in October 2014 under power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal. Prior to joining the coal ministry, Swarup was serving as an Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat.
He is generally credited for successfully developing the model for allocation of natural resources through coal mine auctions. Swarup enjoys the image of a go-getter and was hand-picked was Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the job.
As part of the reshuffle, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) approved appointment of as many as 19 new secretaries today in various central government departments.
Subhash Chandra, Dilip Shanghvi in race for oil blocks
De-risking through diversification seems to be the way for business leaders with media baron Subhash Chandra and pharma tycoon Dilip Shanghvi vying for oil and natural gas blocks in the country.
According to a report in Business Standard, these two business leaders took part in the auction process of small discovered oil fields conducted by the Narendra Modi government on Monday.
Shanghvi through his firm Sun Petrochemicals submitted bids for seven fields, which include five in Gujarat and two in Mumbai offshore. The company's website says that it has a manufacturing facility in Nagothane in Maharashtra producing acetylene black used in battery manufacturing and other niche applications.
It has also diversified into the upstream hydrocarbon business through Sun Oil and Natural Gas (SONG) division dealing with exploration and production.
Meanwhile, Subhash Chandra has joined the auction through Essel Middle East and has shown interest in two fields in Assam and Gujarat.
Based in Dubai, Essel Middle East is involved in the business of mineral mining, oil explorations and acquisition of natural resource assets.
Notably, India's first auction of small discovered fields witnessed subdued response from global bidders on Monday. However, domestic players showed huge interest with a lot of firms vying to put their hands in oil and gas assets.
The fields with estimated oil and gas assets of around $625 million received 134 bids from 42 companies for 34 contract areas. Only five foreign bidders participated with most big names staying away from the auction process.
The blocks put for auction were given up by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) due to their small sizes.
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/subhash-chandra-dilip-shanghvi-race-oil-blocks-705246
ED Conducts Fresh Raids In Coal Allocation Case
Sources tell TIMES NOW that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting fresh raids in the premises of Prakash Industries Ltd in New Delhi, in connection with the Fatehpur coal block allocation case.
The ED had registered a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case in the matter in December 2014.
Allegations are that the company and its promoters had manipulated their share prices to make 150 crores by getting the coal block allocated.
And it is also accused of running shell companies in Kolkata for investments in Prakash Industries Ltd to hike up share prices.
Sources also said that the company had also misrepresented its net worth while applying for the coal block and the screening committee had extended undue favours to the company.
http://www.timesnow.tv/india/video/ed-conducts-fresh-raids-in-coal-allocation-case/52249
Rio Tinto sells UK aluminium assets
Rio Tinto has offloaded its UK aluminium assets after a 10-month auction process, reaping over half a billion dollars in the process.
The agreement relates to its Alcan Aluminium UK business, with the assets of that subsidiary to be claimed by UK-based commodity group SIMEC.
Rio Tinto (RIO) said the deal would deliver £330 million ($555.8m) in proceeds, with the assets hived off including an operating smelter at Lochaber in Scotland as well as hydro-electric facilities and associated land.
The operations were officially been put on the market in January.
Rio Tinto aluminium chief executive Alf Barrios said the deal was a continuation of the miner’s push to focus its attentions on core assets.
“This is a value-creating sale for Rio Tinto and represents another example of refining our portfolio to focus on our suite of tier one assets,” he said.
“At the same time, our priority has been to ensure a long-term sustainable future for Lochaber and economic benefit for the wider Fort William community.
“There was significant interest in the assets, but SIMEC is committed to continuing operations at the smelter and working with the community on further economic development.”
The payment relating to the sale will be received in two tranches, with £180m required on signing in mid-December and £150m due by February 28, 2017.
Rio said the deal brought its total divestments for the year to $US1.3 billion ($1.76bn), while the assets offloaded since it began to shed non-core assets in 2013 now amounts to $US5.3bn.
Rites moots rail corridor to boost coastal coal shipping
Rites Ltd, the consultancy arm of Indian Railways, has proposed a heavy haul rail corridor connecting Salegaon (Maharashtra) with the Paradip port. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 3,298 crore and it is being taken up mainly to boost coastal shipping of coal.
Officials of Rites recently made a presentation on the proposed corridor to the Ministry of Coal.
The project is proposed to be developed in two phases. In the first phase, the corridor will be built from Salegaon to Kandarpur near Cuttack — this is expected to be completed by 2021. This would help ease the congestion around Kandarpur. Subsequently, the corridor is planned to be extended to Paradip port. The commissioning of this phase is set to be co-terminus with an outer harbour planned by the major port under Government of India's Sagarmala initiative. Paradip Port is developing the outer harbour with a capacity to handle 160 million tonne of cargo each year. This project is designed to augment shipping of coal to the southern states. Investment on the outer harbour is pegged at Rs 8,200 crore. The outer harbour with a daft of up to 22 metres would be capable of handling large Capesize vessels with 200,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage).
Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has roped in Howe Engineering Products (India) Ltd as consultant for carrying out the feasibility study for its outer harbour project taken up under Government of India's Sagarmala initiative. The consultant will submit the report within six months.
Meanwhile, the survey and alignment design for the proposed rail corridor is targeted to be done by December this year. Formation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and submission of draft detailed project report (DPR) are expected by March 2017.
The need for evacuating coal and building rail network with associated infrastructure has gained importance given the ambitious coal production goals in the country and Odisha in particular. Coal India Ltd (CIL), the world's single largest coal producer is eyeing an output of one billion tonne by 2020. Its arm Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) with operations in Odisha's Ib and Talcher coalfields, is tipped to the biggest contributor with 250 million tonne production. Constraints in infrastructure posed a hurdle to MCL's coal offtake, especially from the coal rich Basundhara region.
Movement of coal through inland waterways is seen as a viable alternative to de-congest traffic at ports and rail heads. Inland waterways Authority of India has agreed to provdie infrastructure to move three to four million tonne of coal per annum by March 2019.
Warm Regards
Anurag Singal
Sr Manager –Business Development
Essel Mining & Industries Ltd
14th Floor, Industry House
10,Camac Street –Kol-71
Ph: 033-30518415,9088026252
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