The matter has now been escalated and the ministry has written to Customs, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to investigate it thoroughly.
The Supreme Court has ruled that motor vehicle tax is not applicable if a vehicle is not used or kept for use in a 'public place'. The ruling came on an appeal challenging a judgement of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
The IPO of state-owned steel maker RINL is scheduled to hit the markets in the current fiscal, and the Cabinet has already accorded its approval for the stake sale.
RINL wiped out its losses in 2005-06 with money from the government.
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.
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.
Taking forward the drive to sell stake in state-owned firms, the Finance Ministry has asked the Ministry of Steel to divest about 10 per cent of its stake in RINL within next two years and list the firm on bourses or else the PSU's status of Navratna will be withdrawn.
RINL, whose two coking coal blocks in Jharkhand -- Mahal allocated in 2005 and Tenughat-Jhirki allocated in 2008 -- were de-allocated by the Coal Ministry at the beginning of this month, had earlier requested permission to surrender these blocks in lieu of two alternative blocks in the region.
Facing deficit of minerals within, Indian entities are increasingly looking for buying assets abroad.
Entire outlay would be funded through internal and extra budgetary resources, it added.
State-run RITES provides engineering, consultancy and project management services in transport infrastructure sector under single roof.
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.
The state-run firm has invited about 45 lenders -- both domestic and international -- to present its future vision in Mumbai on the first week of the next month.
With general elections on the horizon, the government's privatisation bandwagon has almost but stalled as a government wary of being accused of selling family silver opts for minority stake sales on stock exchanges over outright privatisation. The result -- the divestment target for current fiscal year is again likely to be missed. Big ticket privatisation plans such as that of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and CONCOR are already on the backburner and analysts feel meaningful privatisation can happen only after April/May general elections.
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.
It was touted as a game changer but big-ticket privatisation has been a mixed bag as the government faces unanticipated challenges of lukewarm investor response, employee union agitation and legal hurdles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's often-repeated statement 'the government has no business to be in business' guided the drawing up of an ambitious privatisation pipeline. While Air India sale succeeded, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) divestment failed.
On June 30, mining and metals giant Vedanta, announced that it had decided to initiate a strategic review of its steel and steel-making raw material businesses. The review would begin immediately and evaluate a broad range of options, including but not limited to a potential strategic sale of some or all of the steel businesses, the company said in its stock exchange filing. The signs have been there - approaches had been made to steel players over the past year. Last December, Anil Agarwal, chairman Vedanta group, told Business Standard that the steel plant capacity was about 3 million tonnes (mt).
With the government looking to divest loss-making steel assets, significant interest from secondary players is most likely this time apart from the anticipated list of large integrated primary steel producers, said industry experts. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), NMDC Integrated Steel Plant (NISP)-Nagarnar, Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd and three units of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) - Alloy Steels Plant, Durgapur; Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant, Bhadravati; and Salem Steel Plant, Salem - constitute the divestment list. All the three units of SAIL have been loss-making for more than five years.
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.
Dipam is conducting the selection of merchant bankers and legal advisors, and planning roadshows.
Air India sale will give a boost to India's privatisation drive, the Economic Survey said on Monday, as it suggested redefining the public sector role in business enterprises to encourage private participation in all sectors. The government earlier this month handed over ownership rights in national carrier Air India to Tata Group for Rs 18,000 crore. The amount includes the takeover of the debt burden of Rs 15,300 crore and another Rs 2,700 crore in cash.
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.
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
The share of public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the total market capitalisation of listed companies--at an all-time low of 10 per cent currently --- may get a leg-up from the government's divestment push. Recently the government announced the successful sale of national carrier Air India to Tata Sons, India's first privatisation of a PSU since 2002-03. The transaction is expected to be completed by December.
Russia's war on Ukraine has sent steel prices soaring to its highest levels in the domestic market since November 2021. But there is little cheer in the industry. That's because input costs are spiralling out of control, leaving the big boys nearly as high and dry as the small, medium and secondary steel producers. Russia and Ukraine are major providers of steel and raw materials to the world.
RINL is among the few firms that had effected price hikes, both in the current month and in the previous one.
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.
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.
Aiming to raise Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) from disinvestment, the government on Wednesday said it will sell its stake in 10 more PSUs, including IndianOil, MMTC, Coal India Ltd, SAIL, RINL and Shipping Corporation, in the current financial year.
A little over a year before, when the Hajigak iron ore deposit was put up for grabs, at least five companies - Essar Minerals, JSW Steel, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Sesa Goa and Ispat Industries - had evinced interest.
The minister said to protect the interest of domestic steel producers appropriate fiscal measures to curb the threat of cheap steel import and dumping should be taken soon.
SAIL and RINL at present produce about 18 million tonnes of the commodity. Navratna mining giant NMDC is in the process of setting up a three million tonnes per annum (MTPA)-steel unit in Chhattisgarh. Despite the prevailing economic slowdown, the expansion programmes of these public sector entities are going on full swing, Rastogi said, adding that SAIL is likely to hit the capital market to raise funds for the capacity augmentation.
Tata Steel has increased spot prices Rs 300 to Rs 500 a tonne on some long products, while public sector steel producer RINL has increased rebar prices by Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a tonne. Rebars, which are also long products, are currently ruling at Rs 32,000-33,000 a tonne. C G Patil, director (commercial), RINL, said this was the first increase since July-August, when prices started dropping. The increase was on the back of lower production owing to power cuts.
The domestic steel prices may fall by up to Rs 3,000 a tonne after June, if the rates if coking coal decline in the global market, Steel Secretary P K Rastogi said.
The government's ambitious plan to make Steel Authority of India Limited a mega PSU may hit a roadblock with several smaller PSUs under the Steel Ministry expressing unwillingness to merge with the steel behemoth.
The divestment department has lined up a host of companies.
With Lok Sabha polls not too far away, Congress President Sonia Gandhi signalled that the ambitious Food Security and Land Acquisition Acts brought in by the Centre would give a new deal to the people, especially the farmers and the poor.
Govt has drawn list of PSUs for strategic sale: Jaitley
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