In a big push to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the government has nearly doubled (increase of 81 per cent) the allocation in five key industry segments from Rs 8,405 crore in the Revised Estimate of FY24 to Rs 15,198 crore in the Interim Budget for FY25. The segments cover over eight PLI schemes, including mobile phones, IT hardware, pharma (PLIs for medical devices, intermediates and pharmaceuticals), food processing, telecom hardware and, auto and auto components. In FY24, DPIIT officials, however, said that the disbursements would be much higher at around Rs 11,000 crore than what has been budgeted for the year.
The steel ministry on Friday resisted pressure from the commerce ministry for maintaining status quo on quantity of ore exports, saying exports cannot be at the cost of domestic steel utilities.
The country's largest stainless steel maker Jindal Steel (Hisar) on Wednesday marked its foray into the defence sector by forging a pact with DRDO for transfer of technology relating to high-nitrogen steel for armour applications.
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.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
India's public sector steel companies will spend a whopping Rs 230 crore (Rs 2.30 billion) on corporate social responsibility to build 'Model Steel Villages' across the country during the current financial year.
The Union Power Ministry has selected Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (Visakhapatnam Steel Plant) for the National Energy Conservation Award 2002, first prize in the integrated steel plants sector.\n\n\n\n
A meeting between the steel ministry and steel makers on price cuts remained inconclusive. They are likely to meet again to decide on the price cuts.
The production growth of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed to a six-month low of 7.8 per cent in November due to a decline in the output of crude oil and cement sectors. The growth rate in the production of coal, fertiliser, steel, and electricity also decreased during November this year. According to the data released by the government on Friday, the growth during the month under review, however, is higher than the 5.7 per cent recorded a year ago.
To burnish production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes, the government is considering an overhaul of some of them relating to sectors such as textiles and pharma, and making incentive payments quarterly, officials in the know said. In a bid to cut the delay in processing incentive claims, the government is looking at switching to a quarterly disbursement of incentives. Currently, in most schemes, incentives are annual.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, ITC, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and JSW Steel were the major laggards. Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Maruti, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.
Just days before the G-20 summit in London, the commerce ministry has recommended anti-dumping duty on cold-rolled stainless steel originating in eight countries, including China.
The revised duty will come into effect from midnight on February 24.
While there are some new faces in the cabinet, leaders such as BJP president JP Nadda and Jual Oram have returned as ministers.
"We have appointed a committee to examine the structure and functioning of four companies (MSTC, FSNL, KIOCL and HSCL) and make recommendations regarding their re-organisation, merger with other companies or other structural re-organisation as warranted," Steel Secretary P K Rastogi told PTI. The steel ministry is of the view that the proposed restructuring will enhance the efficiency and profitability of these companies, Rastogi said.
The government will create an 'empowered mechanism' to expedite investment proposals of Rs 11 lakh crore (Rs 11 trillion) in the steel sector, steel minister Virbhadra Singh told reporters after taking charge of the ministry. His key priority, the minister added, would be to increase production and consumption and ensure optimal utilisation of raw material by producers.
To boost domestic manufacturing under the Make in India initiative and reduce dependency on imports, the government is expected to announce in the Budget an increase in the minimum local content requirement for public procurement, with certain sectors being granted exceptions. Currently, firms producing goods, services, or works with at least 50 per cent local content are classified as Class-I local suppliers and are preferred the most in government procurement.
After six years of probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed the closure report before a special court last week as it could not find enough evidence in the case to proceed with prosecution, the officials said.
At least three steel companies-JSW Steel, Jindal Stainless and Bhushan Steel-have decided to wait for the financial storm to pass before they take up their expansion plans. Ministry may not achieve target to cross 100 MT output by 2012.
Mega greenfield steel projects announced in the country are set to add more than 100 million ton of capacity, but land acquisition activity for only 16 million ton has begun.
Road awards were muted in Q1FY25. But the pace will accelerate with a bidding pipeline of Rs 1.1 trillion (September 2024), mostly dominated by HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) projects, which contribute 47 per cent and engineering procurement and construction or EPC projects, which have about 36 per cent share. Hence, infrastructure companies mostly reported revenue decline on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis in Q1FY25.
The Sittwe deal is more significant than Chabahar in Iran, where India has rights to operate only two terminals and not the port itself.
The rising steel prices have adversely affected many ongoing railway projects across the country. "We have revised the price variation clause for all our future projects so that work does not suffer due to abrupt market fluctuation," said a senior railway ministry official.
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking.
Policy could end land acquisition and green nod problems, and encourage foreign investors.
Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday ruled out any divestment in the companies under the ministry and said the department had not received any letter from the finance ministry over the issue.
CBI has also named unknown officials of the union environment ministry in the PE.
India's steel imports from China, the world's biggest producer of the alloy, doubled in April-September from a year ago though the country has enough capacity to meet its demand.
Minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh said it is a major step to place the right talent for the right role.
Growth of eight key infrastructure sectors rose to 8 per cent in July 2023 compared to 4.8 per cent in the same month last year on expansion in production of coal, crude oil, and natural gas, according to the official data released on Thursday. Production of steel, cement and electricity also grew in July, the data showed.
