Hero MotoCorp likely to sign MoU with AP today.

Hero MotoCorp Limited is likely to sign an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government for setting up a motorcycle manufacturing plant in the state. The investment likely to be committed by the company is around Rs. 2,200 crore, according to government sources. During his recent visit to Delhi, the sources said, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu succeeded in convincing Hero MotoCorp managing director and chief executive officer Pawan Munjal and his father Brij Mohan Munjal to choose AP as its manufacturing base for South India. The state government has offered 600 acres of government land in Chittoor district adjoining the SriCity Industrial Park, at almost zero cost, besides 100 per cent exemption of value-added tax (VAT) on bikes made here. Power subsidy and other incentives available under the existing industrial policy were also being extended to the company, the sources told Business Standard.

Jharkhand govt shuts 5 Hindalco bauxite mines.

The Jharkhand government has shut five bauxite mines of Hindalco Industries, flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group. This follows a report by the Shah commission on illegal mining, which had alleged such mining was causing widespread damage to the environment and losses to the exchequer. Earlier, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on Hindalco�s Mahan mine in the coal block allocations case. The action against Hindalco follows similar moves by the Jharkhand government against Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Tata Steel. Jharkhand earlier ordered the closure of 12 iron ore mines and a few manganese mines in that state. These include SAIL's mines in Budhaburu, Durgaiburu, and Kiriburu-Meghahatuburu and Tata Steel's Noamundi mine.

Tata's TRF bags Rs. 353.67 crore order from BHEL for NMDC's Nagarnar plant.

TRF Limited, a Tata Enterprise, has won order worth Rs. 353.67 crore from BHEL, Bangalore for design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, erection and commissioning of a conveying and crushing system with associated equipment for ore, flux, coal and coke handling system for NMDCs 3.0 MTPY Iron & Steel Plant at Nagarnar in Chattisgarh.

Odisha to Get Rs. 1 lakh crore energy investment: Dharmendra Pradhan.

Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said he hopes to make his home state of Odisha the "energy gateway" in eastern India as he announced a clutch of projects that he said will bring in Rs. 1 lakh crore in investments and employ 50,000 people. These include linking of IOCL's refinery to a proposed petroleum and petrochem park in Odisha and oil-gas pipelines from ports to Ranchi and Surat. Pradhan, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his team in Bhubaneswar along with senior members of his ministry, said at a conference later that Odisha is among the few states which will have gas from three sources - imported LNG, domestic natural gas, coal bed methane. IOCL's 15 mt refinery, entailing a Rs 34,000-crore investment, near port town of Paradip is nearing completion and will be commissioned by February 15, kicking in an 11-year tax deferment agreement that will cost the state Rs. 3,000 crore in earnings annually. It was also agreed at the meeting that GAIL and IOCL will tie up with Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation for a city gas distribution. Odisha hopes to attract investment of Rs 2.74 lakh crore at a proposed petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region at Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd's 1600 MW thermal power project to seek board nod.

The first 1600 MW pithead thermal power project by Coal India Ltd. subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. is expected to be ratified at the next board meeting. "The board may take up the matter in the next meeting on September 17. Once it is cleared, it would reach the Coal India board for approval," MCL chairman and managing director A N Sahay said at the Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India seminar. Located in the Sundergarh district of Odisha, it is the maiden pithead thermal power project of CIL involving an investment of around Rs. 10,000 crore. Sahay said the project has seen significant delay on account of issues regarding land acquisition, environment and forest clearance. He said around 800 acres has already been acquired and water linkages are in place. The plant would utilise coal from MCL's Basundhara coal mines. "Once the CIL board gives its nod and clearances are received, it would take another three years for the power plant to come into operation," he said. However, the end use of the power generated from the two 800 MW units captive consumption or merchant power is still to be determined by Coal India board, Sahay said.

Merino Industries to set up new manufacturing plant in Gujarat.

Merino Industries' ready-to-cook brand Vegit is looking at setting up a new manufacturing plant in Gujarat with an investment of Rs. 50 crore. The plant is expected to be operational by year 2017. "We are looking at a second manufacturing plant in Gujarat with an investment of Rs. 50 crore. It will be operational by 2017," Vegit Managing Director Prakash Lohia told PTI. On whether the company has finalised location for the plant, he said: "We are in talks with Gujarat Government officials. We are yet to finalise land for the new plant." Lohia said that apart from new plant, the company also plans to raise production capacity of potato flakes at its existing plant at Hapur in Uttar Pradesh by 50 per cent to meet growing demand. "Vegit will raise production capacity to 12,000 metric tonnes from current 8,000 metric tonnes by March 2015," he said.

Maharashtra looking at JICA funding for Bandra-Versova sea link.

State-run road development corporation MSRDC is looking at funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the ambitious Rs. 5,975-crore Bandra-Versova sea link project. "JICA has been funding major infrastructure projects in the country at lower interest rates. To give pace to our ambitious 9.3-km Bandra-Versova sea link project, we will seek funding from this Japanese institution," Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) Joint Managing Director, SM Ramchandani, told PTI. The Japanese lender has funded key projects like the multi-billion dollar Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and the upcoming Rs. 23,136-crore 32.5 km Colaba-Seepz Metro project in the megapolis, and has also expressed readiness to fund the proposed Mumbai TransHarbour Link (MTHL). The Bandra-Versova sea link is proposed to be developed on a public private partnership model and will be a tolled project. It will have approaches at Carter Road and Juhu, besides the terminal points at Bandra and Versova. Ramchandani said if the project gets JICA funding, the concession period for toll collection could also come down to that extent. The corporation has also sought viability gap funding from the Centre, which may be up to 20 per cent of the project cost. "If we get financial assistance from the Centre as well as JICA, the concession period for toll collection can come down till that extent. We have written to the Centre in this regard," he said. The corporation is currently evaluating the pre-qualification bids submitted by two consortia led by IRB Infrastructure and L&T. "Six players had shown interest but only two submitted their bids. We are scrutinising the bids and if they qualify, only then we will invite financial bids. But if only one of them qualifies at this stage, we will have to do re-bidding to make the process competitive," he said.

AP suggests Chittoor for Hero's new plant.

The country's two-wheeler major Hero Motors Ltd. held parleys with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the company's proposed Greenfield plant in South India and a decision on finalising the location of the new plant is likely to be taken shortly. The proposed plant entails an investment outlay of about Rs. 3,000 crore. The company has been evaluating several locations in South India, including Karnataka, the newly carved out State of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh. Pawan Mujnal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Hero Motors, held a detailed discussion with the AP Chief Minister during the latter's visit to New Delhi recently. According to Government sources, the discussion centred around the State Government's support and the likely incentives the State may be able to extend to the company once it is granted a special status. When new States are carved out, the Centre extends certain special incentives to encourage new industries. This makes for an attractive proposition for the Hero. The State on its part suggested Chittoor district close to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The support extended would be discussed and a decision is likely soon, sources said. Hero Motors has two manufacturing units in Haryana and one in Uttarakhand. It is set to commission its fourth unit in Rajasthan and is building a fifth one in Gujarat. The proposed plant in South will be sixth and aimed at addressing the southern market. The company delegations have held parleys with both the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governments in the past and they were shown couple of options for locating their plant, including one site close to Hyderabad. Senior TDP leaders spoke about the meeting late last night and indicated that the company management is likely to revert soon.

Odisha asks AAI for support to develop Jeypore airport.

The state government has sought technical and financial help from Airport Authority of India (AAI) to develop Jeypore airstrip into a commercial airport, citing its proximity to top industrial sites in the state. "Jeypore is at far end of the state and is a commercial centre surrounded by industries and hydro power projects. It is, therefore, requested that AAI may please provide technical and financial support for development and operation of Jeypore airstrip in a similar manner as Jharsuguda airport," said Niten Chandra, special secretary in the general administration department of the government in a letter to AAI. The government of India has taken a policy decision to develop 50 airports in the country for commercial operation. The Odisha government requested AAI to include Jeypore airstrip in the upgradation plan as industrial facilities such as an alumina refinery of National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and aircraft designing wing of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is situated in the surrounding region of Jeypore. "State government will provide all infrastructural support required for this purpose," Chandra added in the letter.

AP govt mulls 2,500-MW ultra-mega solar parks.

The Andhra Pradesh government is contemplating setting up ultra-mega solar parks of 2,500-MW capacity in Ananthapur, Kurnool and Kadapa districts through an MoU among APGenco, New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (Nredcap) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). "The 24X7 Power For All (PFA) is my dream project and the government has targeted to achieve 9,150 MW capacity through renewable energy and realising substantial energy savings through energy efficiency projects by FY 2018-19, which will go a long way in making AP a solar hub and a centre of excellence for the country," chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said recently. Naidu's comments come at a time when the Andhra Pradesh government is all set to sign a joint initiative with the Centre for the 24X7 PFA programme on September 16 at Lakeview Guest House here with an ultimate aim of providing uninterrupted power for domestic and industrial electricity consumers. This joint initiative will be signed by the secretaries concerned on the occasion of completion of 100 days of the present regime in the presence of Naidu, and Piyush Goyal, Union minister of state for new renewable energy, power, coal. Reviewing the modalities for rolling out of the proposed 24X7 PFA scheme, the chief minister directed the energy department to make arrangements to enter into separate MoUs with NTPC for solar and thermal projects, SECI and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). These include an MoU between the state government and NTPC for a 1,000-Mw solar park in NP Kunta Mandal of Ananthapur district and an MoU between the State Energy Conservation Mission and EESL on energy efficiency activities in domestic, agricultural and municipal street lighting.