Five Indian metals and mining companies are in the race for acquiring mining rights for the largest iron ore deposit in war-torn Afghanistan. The government has shortlisted Vedanta group's Sesa Goa, Essar Minerals, Ispat Industries, JSW Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam for a bid for the 1.8 billion tonne Hajigak iron ore deposit.
As many as 20 central public sector enterprises and their units are at various stages of strategic disinvestment, while six are being considered for closure or are under litigation, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said on Monday.
The Essar group, Jindal Steel and Power, Monnet Ispat, Bhushan Steel and the Avantha group have been asked to close deals by March-end.
Delhi-based Monnet Ispat and Power has bought 27 per cent in the steel company and may make open offer at Rs 320 per share. Backed by P K Mohanty, executive vice-chairman and managing director, Orissa Sponge, and the promoter of the company, Monnet Ispat has now become the frontrunner for acquiring the company by buying a total of 54 million shares.
22 companies won bids for the 31 contracts on offer; 15 were new entrants to the oil and gas business. Three years on, none of them have started production.
The government on Monday budgeted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions, including 2 PSU banks and one general insurance company, in the next fiscal year beginning April 1. The amount is lower than the record Rs 2.10 lakh crore which was budgeted to be raised from CPSE disinvestment in the current fiscal year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the government's CPSE stake sale programme, and the target has been lowered to Rs 32,000 crore in the Revised Estimates.
The Coal Ministry has issued show-cause to eight firms including Hindalco Industries and Mahanadi Coalfields, and sought explanation from five firms for delays in commencing production from mines allocated to them.
Major steel producers, including SAIL and Tata Steel, on Monday agreed to cut prices of TMT bars, galvanised steel and HR coils after the government asked them to contain prices to keep inflation under check.
With the disruption caused by the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the 'fear of unknown' is looming over the government's privatisation drive. Although there is a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability on how things will unfold, the government is hopeful of completing the transactions listed in the Budget with a delay of one to two months, said a top government official. However, "there are many unknown factors now, and we do not know whether there could be a third wave. But we are trying to carry on with our work", the official said." Since there is a lot of uncertainty, the estimates will have to be revised as rating agencies are revising their outlook for growth.
Those involved in the discussions say the guidelines for selection of bidders in insolvency cases need to be transparent, otherwise anyone who loses out could take legal recourse, leading to wastage of time and derailing the whole process.
The divestment process, however, will not be an easy affair as there are multiple stakeholders, including the employee unions, whose concerns will have to be addressed.
Essar Steel, Ispat Industries and Jindal Vijaynagar Steel made remarkable gains in early trades on Wednesday after financial institutions on Tuesday announced a debt recast package for the steel makers.
The government will soon issue guidelines for regulation of OTT (over the top) platforms that will address issues such as sensitive content, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
The states will get over Rs l lakh crore.
'Kindly advise about the following stocks. Can I hold or exit?'
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre has accepted the recommendations made by the Inter-Ministerial Group on coal to de-allocate four coal blocks
RINL is among the few firms that had effected price hikes, both in the current month and in the previous one.
State-run RITES provides engineering, consultancy and project management services in transport infrastructure sector under single roof.
The collapse of the eastern grid disrupted normal life in Jharkhand, which witnessed power failure in several parts of the state and delay in train services on Tuesday. The 509 Down Howrah-Banaras Express was stranded at Rohini station in Deogarh district, while the Ispat Express and Santragachi Express were detained on Chakradharpur-Howrah route from 1.30 pm, sources in the Chakradharpur Railway Division said.
JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Steel Authority of India, Bhushan Steel, Essar Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam are among the top producers of the alloy in the domestic market
Steel Ministry is unwilling to sell shares at lower than the present book value of Rs 22.50 a share. Merchant bankers UBS Securities and Deutsche Equities (India) have proposed Rs 15-17 as the price band.
The government on Monday said it will kickstart its ambitious Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) divestment programme with stake sale in RINL this month.
The death toll in last week's explosion at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has gone up to 17, with one of the injured officials succumbing to injuries on Wednesday.
If the proposal gets Cabinet clearance, the disinvestment is likely to follow the initial public offering of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, for which the prospectus has already been filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
On BSE, 1,469 shares fell and 1,200 shares rose. A total of 190 shares were unchanged.
RINL is in the process of adding steel-making capacity at its lone facility in Vizag through revamping its existing blast furnaces, converters, sinter plant and others to take its 2.9 mtpa existing capacity to 7.3 mtpa by 2014-15.
A senior official from the Department of Disinvestment told Business Standard it was decided in a meeting on Thursday that the fresh date for RINL's IPO would be in the third or fourth week of July.
The sad part is that it is corporate war that is exposing the chink within the system.
Top corporates and banks, including Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, SAIL and SBI, have paid lower advance taxes during the July-September quarter reflecting the impact of slowdown.
Jindal Power bagged 2 coal mines in Chhattisgarh.
Mining baron Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group has bid for the most number of 14 coal mines out of 23 on offer in the first round of auction which also have aggressive bids by Aditya Birla Group, Adani and Naveen Jindal group, but was shunned by foreign players.
In a bid to resurrect Air India privatisation, the government is planning to give flexibility to potential investors to decide on the humongous debt with the national carrier, a top official has said. The flexibility to potential investors on the quantum of the Rs 60,074 crore debt that they want to absorb will replace the current condition of the buyer taking over more than a third of the debt and transferring the rest to a special purpose vehicle, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.
The joint venture agreement is likely to be signed before the end of the current year and once that is done, tendering for the plant and machinery will follow, he said, adding this might take place before the end of the current fiscal.
Police said the explosion occurred at J D Ispat factory at Kapsi village in Nagpur due to some "technical problems" in the blast furnace.
It is expected to take a similar stand at the Mumbai and Delhi high courts, where Welspun Maxsteel, Ispat Industries and Essar Steel have challenged the petroleum ministry's decision to divert KG-D6s supply from steel and petrochemicals to power and fertiliser.
Steel manufacturers on Wednesday hit out at 'unilateral' decision of the Oil Ministry to curb natural gas supplies from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields to non-core users, saying only a ministerial panel was empowered to take such decision.
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