CovEr STory - Mjunction

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P S Bhattacharyya, Managing Director, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd
S N Choubey, Head – Commercial, ABG Cement Ltd
Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director, S & T Mining Co Pvt Ltd
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EDITORIAL
Dear Readers,
Welcome back to your senses after Budget 2012…!
This year, as in most years, there was something for
everybody…the progressive, the regressive, the moderate,
the excessive. And also for those who are bored with Budget.
Opening the session, the Railway Budget (allegedly) dished
out a ‘drama’ and then the Finance Minister quoted a
(Shakespearean) play. All for the aam admi…!
On a serious note, the Budget 2012 had precious little
for the mining and mineral sector. But of course, the long
standing demand from power producers for removal of duty
on thermal coal import was paid heed to, much to the dismay
of Coal India Ltd (CIL). This could be a turn-off for the coal
miner before an imminent increase in domestic prices planned
for April-May. Leaving this aside, there was hardly any
impact of the Budget on other pure-play miners such as Sesa
Goa, NMDC and MOIL.
As for the power utilities, there are perhaps some reasons
to rejoice. The Budget permitted power companies to tap
external commercial borrowings (ECB) – a welcome move.
The FM, hence the government, also recognised that the power
sector is under duress because of high prices of coal. Why not
straightway provide cheaper domestic coal, then, instead of
trying to make imports cheaper
For CIL, the change in guard is a few days away. If there is
no further twist in the tale, S Narsing Rao would step into the
company headquarters in Kolkata in the first week of April.
The industry is looking up for the quiet man from Singareni
to deliver on the production front. Incidentally, production at
SCCL jumped 40 percent during his tenure.
The ministry, meanwhile, is doing its best to adopt the
carrot and stick approach for the captive blocks. Unfortunately,
it can neither offer nor take away much, except for the notso-attractive
coal blocks. It will be interesting to see how
the companies respond to the auction of around 50 blocks
the MoC has identified for allocation. Talking about captive
allocation, one cannot but be amused at the recent furore in
Parliament over block allocations. The allegations that the
government lost Rs 1,000,000 crore by allocating blocks free
could have some merit. But the fact that these blocks produce
38 million tons (mt) after 15-20 years of allocation makes light
of such accusations.
And still, not every hope is lost. This issue of Coal Insights
brings out a report on the prospects of underground coal
gasification (UCG) in India. UCG is a clean, efficient and ecofriendly
way of using coal that is unmineable. Although there
was not much success initially, the technology holds promise
for the future.
Happy reading,
Warm Regards
Rakesh Dubey
Chief Editor