The government had in July 2010 imposed a cess on coal at an effective rate of Rs 50 a tonne.
The huge reduction in the government's support for Bhavini has brought down the overall budgetary allocation for nuclear power schemes by 20 per cent.
There was a time when gas was offered to India at a cheaper price but we could not close those deals.
The company is also looking to expand the supply of gas by roads and is evaluating creation of small storage hubs along the highways.
In a move to help quicken the flagging pace of distribution reforms in the power sector, the Union finance ministry has approved the creation of a Rs 50,000-crore National Electricity Fund - first mooted in the 2008-09 Budget - for attracting investment in this area.
The Gurgaon-based company, which is in negotiations with Chinese banks, expects to clinch the loans by September.
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's Delhi Airport Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) would run and maintain the line, which would reduce travel time between the heart of the capital and the Indira Gandhi International Airport to 20 minutes.
This forms about 7.5 per cent of India's projected investment of Rs 5,28,316 crore (Rs 5,283.16 billion) in overall infrastructure during the next financial year and over a fourth of the Rs 1,59,000-crore (Rs 1,590-billion) investment to be made in the electricity sector alone in 2011-12, the terminal year of the current Plan period.
Favours stricter impact mitigation rules, monitoring.
The government's initiative to have trading of electricity with Sri Lanka is likely to bear fruit by mid-2014, with the commissioning of a high capacity power transmission link between the two countries. The two countries are likely to sign an MoU for a Rs 2,500-crore (Rs 25 billion) project.
The central government plans to set up a group of public sector banks headed by State Bank of India (SBI), which would brainstorm on ways to make low-cost funding available for power projects that are being set up under the National Solar Mission.
Areva has 60-Mw of biomass-based power capacity in India. It is looking to also tap the market for nuclear power in a big way.
In a setback to initial public offer (IPO)-ready Coal India, the Jharkhand government has rejected a forest clearance for a railway link being planned for evacuation of coal from the North Karanpura coalfield operated by the coal miner.
Reliance Industries Ltd's legal battle over the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to impose 21 per cent value-added tax on gas is holding up supply to NTPC's two power plants and Indian Oil Corporation's Mathura refinery, despite a group of ministers making allocation to them.
Last week, Chandra Shekhar Verma did something rather uncharacteristic for a state-owned company chieftain, especially one reputed to be a stickler for rules. The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) chairman - its youngest ever - openly criticised the government.
If the waxy crude oil from Cairn's Mangala field in Rajasthan's Barmer area could get the company such high valuations, the prospects of other companies producing higher-grade crude oil or natural gas certainly brighten.
Timely commissioning of over 50,000 Mw of power generation capacity has been jeopardised owing to the environment ministry's latest move to classify India's coal-bearing regions as "go" and "no-go" areas. This comes at a time when the country is striving to bridge the widening gap in the demand and supply of electricity.
While the government is pushing for the use of renewable energy in rural areas to address the twin problems of climate change and scarcity of power, the nodal ministry for carrying out the exercise has not been performing well.
GAIL India chairman and managing director B C Tripathi said the availability and possibility of gas has changed with the change in government policy.
While the mechanism of auctioning commodities like coal and electricity and telecom spectrum at electronic platforms has brought in transparency in their allocation, experts believe that the strategy cannot fructify until the prevailing shortfall in their availability is met.
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