Money chase unites two M’s

Mumbai, Aug. 1: Amit Mitra delivered Mumbai’s business stars for Mamata Banerjee today. The question now is whether the stars will deliver for the chief minister what she wants them to: investments. 

The finance minister, saddled with the difficult task of managing Bengal’s straitened circumstances, put the full force of his persuasive skills developed during his earlier stint as Ficci secretary-general into play to get top industrialists and bankers for the meeting with the chief minister.

A beaming Mamata said later: “I am very happy at the turnout. My expectation was 100 per cent but it exceeded my expectation.” 

The chief minister — whose first investor meet in Delhi last December was a flop — had reasons to be happy as Mitra offered her both quality and quantity at the meeting at the World Trade Centre at Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai. 

In attendance were Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, Godrej boss Adi Godrej, JSW Group’s Sajjan Jindal, RPG Enterprise’s Harsh Goenka, Pantaloon’s Kishore Biyani and Amit Kalyani of Bharat Forge. Top bankers — Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra and ICICI managing director Chanda Kochhar — were at hand, too.

The most notable absentee was Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, though one group representative did show up — N. Chandrasekharan, the managing director of TCS that has development centres in Calcutta. 

Investment is critical for Mamata, who landed in Mumbai with a massive mandate in the rural polls, because of the absence of employment opportunities. Though the Trinamul government has been claiming that it has received proposals worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore since the change of guard in Bengal, it has little to show in terms of actual investment. 

Asked if the meeting brought forth any concrete proposal, Mamata avoided a direct reply. “It cannot be done this way. We have made our points. Bengal is a gold mine, I told them. They should now decide what to do,” she said. 

Although a meeting of this nature was not quite expected to yield tangible gains, Mamata — often portrayed as anti-industry for her Singur agitation — scored on two counts. 

First, she managed to draw a packed audience, which would help silence her critics for some time. Some industrialists The Telegraph spoke to said they had come because of Mitra. “I was at the meeting because I could not say no to Amit Mitra,” said one of them.

Mamata’s second success was winning a bouquet of praises, with one industrialist describing her after the meeting as “charming”. 

“We have seen your passion on TV, today we felt that in person as you addressed us,” Kochhar said, according to tweets by Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha MP and Mamata aide. 

Ambani, the biggest draw, said the fact that she had come to Mumbai within 48 hours of a landslide victory “means you mean business”, according to O’Brien’s tweet.

Later, Ambani met the chief minister at the Sahyadri Guest House. The Reliance chairman, accompanied by Reliance Gio head Tarun Jhunjhunwala, is believed to have brought to Mamata’s attention the roadblocks to rolling out 4G services in Bengal.

At the meeting, the industrialists avoided asking tough questions either because they did not wish to offend the chief minister or they were not interested enough in Bengal.

To questions about land, Mamata said 10,000 acres were available with the government. But the fact is that most of this land is in small parcels. 

Speaking to The Telegraph after the meeting, Goenka summed it up. “It went off really well. She certainly won the hearts of the people, but she has to also win the purse of the people.”

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Money chase unites two M’s

Why Mukesh Ambani met Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Digbijay Mishra | Business Standard | Kolkata   

August 2, 2013 Last Updated at 18:45 IST 

Ambani is known to have discussed key matters in a one-on-one interaction with Banerjee after the meet

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s meet with the who’s who of India Inc in Mumbai turned out to be a runaway hit, courtesy Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani.

According to a tweet by Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’ Brien, Ambani was believed to have said that the Chief Minister meant business, given that she was in Mumbai barely 48 hours after a big electoral victory. But it’s not just Banerjee who meant business.

 

After the India Inc meeting Ambani met the Chief Minister one-on-one at the guest house where she had put up. State government sources said, none of the other state ministers were present during the meeting.

 

“HPL and 4G were the key matters discussed. He (Ambani) was very keen on 4G but HPL too was important on his agenda,” industry minister, Partha Chatterjee said, but added that no one was allowed to inturrept the one-on one between Banerjee and Ambani.

 

On the 4G front, the company plans to lay optical fibre cables across 5,500 km. It would use 3,500 telecom towers to support its 4G services in the state. Work has already started on laying cables across 300 km, the company management had said during a recent conference in the state. The investment in the project was around Rs 3,000 crore.

 

However, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) could just higher on Ambani’s priority. HPL, eastern India's biggest petrochem company, has been on the radar of RIL for quite some time. RIL has submitted an expression of interest for the state government’s 40 per cent stake. The five other bidders are Anil Agarwal’s Cairn India, Essar, IOC, ONGC and GAIL.

 

The plant visit, as part of the due diligence process, started on Thursday wherein the bidders would visit the plant, which according to HPL's former MD Partha Bhattacharyya could boast of international quality products. 

 

While RIL has formally joined the race for HPL now, its interest is an open secret. In 2006, Ambani had come down to meet Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was the Chief Minister then. 

“Ambani said, I will come if you want me,” a senior Left leader said.

 

The state government was keen on selling its stake to Ambani, but an agreement with TCG’s Purnendu Chatterjee for the first rights of refusal, held it back. Ambani was asked to settle the matter with Purnendu Chatterjee directly, but it didn’t result in anything material.

This time too, the stake sale could get entangled in a legal battle. TCG has already filed an appeal in Supreme Court against a Calcutta High Court order. TCG wanted to move the international court of arbitration, against which the state government had moved the High Court.

 

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Why Mukesh Ambani met Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee | Business Standard

JSW Steel puts Rs. 35,000 cr West Bengal steel project on hold

NDTV PROFIT 

Press Trust of India | Updated On: April 28, 2013 15:05 (IST)

    

JSW Steel has put on hold plans to set up a 10 million tonnes steel plant in West Bengal as it has not been able to secure long-term iron ore supplies for the Rs. 35,000 crore project.

"It is stalled right now, it's on hold. Unless we are going to fix the iron ore matter, unless we have the visibility of iron ore, we cannot move ahead. It's on hold," JSW chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal told PTI.

JSW is working with the Centre and state government to secure iron ore mining lease, he said, adding, long-term visibility of iron ore is required to begin construction of the plant.

When asked about any timeline for the project, he said: "Nothing (is) in my control. The project is stalled at the moment."

The West Bengal project of JSW, first announced in 2007, has been getting delayed for various reasons. This included a land acquisition row with the state government after Mamata Banerjee-led government took charge in 2011. The issue has now been resolved and land acquisition has been completed. However, the company has not been willing to move further on any new project, including the ones in West Bengal, without securing either long term iron ore supply agreement or a captive iron ore mine due to its experience in Karnataka.

In Karnataka, the company runs a 10 million tonnes (MT) steel plant but it neither has any captive mine nor any long term iron ore supply agreement and the company has to source the ore from open market.

For more than one and half years now, JSW has been running the Karnataka plant at a reduced capacity due to iron ore crunch in the state.

Currently, all ore in the state gets auctioned due to a Supreme Court direction, thereby increasing the raw material cost for the company.

According to original plan, JSW's West Bengal project was envisaged to have a 10 million tonnes steel plant along with a 1,600 MW captive power plant at a total cost of Rs. 35,000 crore that requires about 4,300 acres of land.

In the first phase, the company had plans to set up a 3 MT steel plant and a 300 MW captive power plant with an investment of Rs. 20,000 crore. The first phase was proposed to be financed at a debt-equity ratio of 65:35.

Deallocation of Gourangdih ABC coal block last year by the Coal Ministry is also an issue JSW is facing. The block, allocated to JSW and Himachal EMTA jointly in July, 2009 would have provided coal for the captive power plant of the Bengal plant.

JSW has challenged the deallocation of the coal block in court and the matter is currently sub-judice.

Story first published on: April 28, 2013 14:58 (IST) 

Mumbai to miss Mamata - Business meet put off, several theories swirl

The Bengal government has “deferred” indefinitely Mamata Banerjee’s Mumbai roadshow to woo investors.

Industries minister Partha Chatterjee said the meeting, scheduled for February 13, could be put off by a “few days” but added that it had not been called off.

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Mumbai to miss Mamata

DOREMI At Leads, business sings and bears it

Haldia, Jan. 15: Never mind big business has not yet danced to Mamata Banerjee’s tune. The chief minister has made some sing — and lip-sync — her tune.

The chief minister today converted Bengal Leads into Bengal Culture Leads by getting two industrialists — C.K. Dhanuka and Sanjiv Goenka — on the dais and persuading them to perform two songs.

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DOREMI At Leads, business sings and bears it

Coal shortfall hits steel production in West Bengal

IANS, Oct 18, 2011, 02.48pm IST

KOLKATA: Production in the secondary steel sector of West Bengal has fallen as heavy rains have prevented the state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) from supplying enough of the vital raw material.

The sector expects to be further hit because there will be no e-auction of coal for it this month. It is on hold to divert the raw material to power stations. These auctions are a 'lifeline' to the secondary steel sector.

Coal supply to power and steel plants are badly affected as the coal giant was unable to meet its target in the first half of the current fiscal, the output falling short by around 20 million tonnes (MT) due to adverse weather conditions.

Against the target of 196 MT, largely due to heavy rains the Maharatna company could produce only about 176 MT of coal from April to September.

Steelmakers said the coal crisis for the steel sector will aggravate further with CIL's recent decision to offer four million tonnes of additional coal by e-auction to the power sector in October.

"Plants in West Bengal are on the verge of closing down due to acute coal shortage," Kolkata-based Shyam Steel director Lalit Beriwala told IANS. "We have been particularly facing severe shortage of coal for the last six months because of short supply from the CIL."

Beriwala said the state was currently producing at half its installed capacity.

"No new coal linkage has been given for the last four years in the state," he said.

He said prices of coal distributed through e-auction were very high; moreover, no trader should be allowed in the e-auction because they tend to jack up prices.

The coal distribution policy in the country has to be changed, he said.

On CIL's decision to put on hold the e-auction for the month of October, Beriwala said it will aggravate the coal crisis for steel producers as they purchased a bulk of coal through this medium.

"Now 70 percent of the steel plants will be closed down in West Bengal. I do not know what will be the fate of industry in the state if the government does not take any action," he added.

Another major steelmaker in the state, Jai Balaji Group, said it had resorted to more coal import from abroad.

"For the last few months, we have been facing severe shortage of domestic coal supplied by CIL and its subsidiaries," Jai Balaji Group chairman and managing director Aditya Jajodia said.

"Due to that our coal import has been increased by 25 percent. As a result cost of steel production has soared by about 40 percent," he added.

Jajodia said CIL's decision on e-auction of coal was a "negative development". "It will hurt steel sector as a whole," he added.

Santosh Bajaj of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce ( MCC) said the steel sector in the state was facing supply as well as demand constraints.

"Bengal steel plants are facing a raw materials crisis, more in the recent times, because of the short supply in coal. Demand for steel is low because of low spending on infrastructure. If demand was high then the base price would have been higher. It would have ensured good profit for steel makers," Bajaj said.

Moreover, according to him, steel producers are also facing a working capital crisis as interest rates are too high.

"Financially they are in a pathetic condition," he added.

CIL, NMDC to join hands to set up coal-to-liquid plant

Priyadarshi Siddhanta

Posted online: Sat Jan 29 2011, 01:12 hrs

New Delhi : Arguing for hedging against extremely volatile global crude prices, two navratna mining giants, Coal India Limited and National Mineral Development Corporation have decided to form a consortium in setting up a Coal To Liquid (CTL) project at an estimated expenditure of nearly Rs 15,000 crore in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.

The move comes close on the heels of a recent visit by Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and CIL top brass to South Africa, where they saw the positive impact being created by the world’s oldest CTL plant being run by Sasol in the country’s Mpumalanga province. The liquid fuel generated have provided 27 per cent energy security to the African nation. “In a recent letter CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacharya has offered to partner with NMDC to jointly execute a CTL project in the Deora-Pachami coal block in West Bengal’s Birbhum district,” Jaiswal told The Indian Express. The West Bengal government has sought a minority partnership in the proposed venture, he said.

Accordingly the CIL-NMDC consortium should be given the preferential allocation of the block which has an estimated reserve of 19 billion tonnes of coal, Bhattacharya said and reminded that the steel ministry too has made similar requests to the coal ministry in this connection. “The Sasol experience has clearly demonstrated the relevance of such a large CTL facility in enhancing energy security along with a hedge against extreme volatility of global oil prices. It would also lead to industrial rejuvenation of the eastern part of the country known for its industrial backwardness,” Bhattacharjee argued in his letter justifying the project.

Trade relations will strengthen further: Vietnam envoy

Kolkata, Jan 28 (IANS): Vietnam has been exploring ways of investing in the field of information technology (IT) in West Bengal, the country's ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Tan said here Friday.

Speaking at an interactive session on Indo-Vietnam trade relations organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, the ambassador exuded confidence that trade and investment relations between his country and West Bengal will increase in the near future.

'During the past few years, we have witnessed with satisfaction the development of friendship and co-operation between Vietnam and West Bengal. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on his visit to India in 2007 met leaders of the state and business circle,' the ambassador said.

'Kolkata also sent business delegations both in 2007 and 2009 to Vietnam, during which several contracts had been signed.'

 

'I am confident that with continuous efforts of businessmen of both sides, the trade and investment relations will be further strengthened and developed with every passing day,' he added.

Asked if his country faced land acquisition problems in the wake of rapid industrialisation, he said: 'As of now we have dealt with the issue in a systematic manner. We have special committees set up to ensure that the land givers are provided adequate compensation and rehabilitation.'

 

However, Indian steel giant Tata's plan to set up a steel plant in Vietnam has been delayed due to land acquisition problems.

He said there was a need for a direct flight from Vietnam to Kolkata.

‘Bengal a lucrative investment destination’

Express News Service Posted online: Wed Dec 15 2010, 04:52 hrs

Kolkata: Assocham survey points to problem in land acquisition but says growth encouraging.

Many business and industrial projects may have hit roadblocks in Bengal but it seems that the chambers of industry have not lost confidence in the state. A survey conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has concluded that the Left Front-ruled state is the most lucrative destination for investments in the country.

West Bengal, the study stated, attracted a total investment proposal of Rs 5,77,904 crore till September, 2010. In the same period the country received investment proposals of Rs 1,04,93,601 crore.

Of the total investment proposals, 73 per cent has come from private sector and the remaining 27 per cent from government.

The state’s share of total investment undertaken by different governments in the country is 3.7 per cent and in terms of investments by the private sector, Bengal’s share is 6.7 per cent.

“West Bengal is a well established, matured economy. The trade off between equity and efficiency issues has affected growth of economy in the past. However, the state has the potential to achieve double digit growth rate by exploiting complementarities between its social and economic strengths,” said the new ASSOCHAM president, Dilip Modi.

The study also pointed out the problems of land acquisition that has hit many projects. It, however, added that despite such hurdles, Bengal’s position of being the sought after investment destination is an encouraging trend.

The survey stated that nearly 50 per cent of the investment proposals are in different stages of implementation and 48.3 percent of investments are in the announcement stage. Implementation of projects involving 1.5 per cent of total investment is stalled due to various reasons, the survey said. “It may be noted that owing to the prevalence of global recessionary trends and slow down of the Indian economy investments across states have been kept on hold. This explains that a major portion of the projects have not moved beyond the announcement stage,” the survey stated.

The survey also stated that there has been a balanced development of all the sectors of the economy.

This strategy is expected to help the state reduce dependency on agriculture, add value to primary sector products and augment sources of revenue for the state, it added.

WBIDC to hand over land to ITC for production base

2010-09-14

The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) would hand over 18 acres later this month to the cigarettes-to-hotel conglomerate ITC to set up an integrated food factory in the state.

'We will hand over 18 acres to ITC on September 25. The cost of land per acre was in tune of Rs.20 lakh,' Subrata Gupta, managing director, WBIDC, told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Ficci.

During the annual general meeting of ITC in July, chairman Y.C. Deveshwar told reporters that the company had not been able to get land to set up production base (factory) in the state for long.

The land is at Panchla village in Howrah on National Highway 6, 35 km from Kolkata. The unit is planned to manufacture snacks like Bingo.

Matix to set up ammonia plant in West Bengal

Aug 31 2010

Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals, the flagship company of the Matix Group, is raising around Rs 3,500 crore from a consortium of banks for one of the world’s largest single stream gas based ammonia cum urea plants in Panagarh, West Bengal.

A person close to the development told Financial Chronicle, that the company, owned by Nishant Kanodia of Datamatics Group, is raising the debt from a consortium of six to eight banks, lead arranged by IDBI Bank in a month’s time.

The equity contribution for the Rs 5,000 crore project is around Rs 1,500 crore, the person said.

Matix is developing a 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) plant to cater to the huge shortfall of urea in West Bengal and its surrounding regions of Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The Matix plant will help in reducing this shortfall to 4 mtpa in three years time in a radius of around 350 kilometers. The company is also setting up a large dealer networks for marketing and distribution of urea to farmers in the region.

“Matix has identified around 1000 dealers and is expected to shortlist arou¬nd 500-600 dealers to distribute the product to the farmers in short time,” the person said.

In the first phase of development the company is setting up around 1.5 mtpa of ammonia and urea capacity, which would be commissioned by 2012.

The orders for equipment have been finalised with global equipment suppliers, and construction on the site has begun. KBR of the US and Saipem of Italy are among strategic inter¬national partners providing technology, basic and detail¬ed engineering, procurement, construction and comm¬issioning support. The Matix plant will be the first urea plant in the world with feedstock supply of coal bed methane (CBM) gas exclusively sourced from Essar Group’s Raniganj CBM block, near Panagarh in West Bengal.

Published on mydigitalfc.com (http://www.mydigitalfc.com)

 

© 2010 Financial Chronicle, All rights reserved

Poland interested in modernization of West Bengal coal mines

New Delhi,Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009: Economic Times reported that Poland is keen to strengthen its business partnership and cultural ties with India. It is interested to participate in India’s drive towards modernizing coal mines and defense sectors where the private sector has been roped in as an important partner. The embassy in Delhi wishes to play facilitator in forging JVs between Indian and Polish companies.

Mr Piotr Klodkowski Poland’s ambassador to India said that Poland, with its expertise in developing underground coal mines through the longwall technology, construction of washery, mine safety and rescue measures can be an effective partner of India in developing coal mines with modern technology.

The Polish ambassador said that "As there is huge scope for improvement in the coal mining sector in West Bengal, which is one of the major coal producing state in India, Poland is keen to share its expertise in this field if it is asked for this by the state government. This will be conveyed to the state chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who I would meet on Wednesday.”

WB Govt to provide boost to handloom products

October 31, 2009 (India)

In order to provide more competence to the state’s handloom products in international markets, the State Textiles and Handloom Department of West Bengal intends to work on designs of the famed traditional handloom products to enhance their demand. Ms. Arati Ahuja, the state textiles and handloom secretary, said that efforts would be taken to improve the designs of handloom saris to make them marketable in domestic as well as overseas markets. However, this improvement would be done by keeping the traditional patterns in mind as the handloom products designed in artistic way are unique in weaving patterns and designs. In this regard, the state government has initiated communications with national institutes such as the National Institute of Design (NID) and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), which are globally recognized design institutes. Apart from this, the government has also decided to organize an International handloom exhibition for the first time in the state in February 2010, for which it has also initiated talks with the Apparel Export Promotion Council (APEC) under the Union ministry of textiles to organize the international exhibition.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

Bengal Aerotropolis project gets first tranche of land

KOLKATA, October 30, 2009: Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), which will be setting up the country’s first greenfield merchant airport near Durgapur in West Bengal, has got the first tranche of land of 533.5 acres.

The project, which had hit hurdles following objections raised by Coal India Ltd (CIL) over the issue of its coal deposits getting blocked by the proposed airport city, now expected to start construction by March 2010 and become operational by September 2011, Arvind Pande, Chairman, BAPL, said.

CIL sources said that the project size had been reworked to protect most of the licence areas of Eastern Coalfields Ltd., a subsidiary of CIL.

However, concerns regarding the project locking up coal deposits allotted to other companies remain. While coal deposits spread over 2.63 km was getting locked up now, keeping in mind the interest of only coal which is extractable in the near future, some amount has been sacrificed it was learnt. The 99-year lease agreement was signed between BAPL and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), a release said adding that the integrated project was spread over about 2,300 acres and the acquisition of remaining land was expected to be over in the next few months.

Changi Airports International has picked up 26 per cent equity in BAPL which is its first investment in India, the release said. Mr. Pande said the project had already received clearance from the Civil Aviation Ministry and had attained financial closure.

Wipro's Bengal project gets new site

KOLKATA,Oct 30 2009: Wipro has decided to come back to Kolkata at the alternative site offered by the state government, much to the relief of the West Bengal government. Wipro’s confirmation has come in less than a month time of West Bengal government scrapping the much-hyped IT Park project which was supposed to IT biggies Wipro and Infosys.

Wipro officials on Friday met the Managing Director, Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) and formally communicated their consent to take possession of the alternative land (50 acre) albeit at a concessional price. On September 7, West Bengal government had scrapped its much-hyped ‘Kolkata Link’, a modern IT infrastructure project, over a land scam. On September 17, FC reported that West Bengal government offered alternative lands to Wipro and Infosys. The alternative land is also at New Town, Rajarhat.

Wipro officials also met the state IT minister Debesh Das. “They told me that they would like to develop a world class state of the art facility at this parcel of land,” Das said. "The people of several walks of life indeed want to see WIPRO to expand and Infosys to step into the state. The decision of WIPRO to start its second campus in West Bengal is quite encouraging. As said by WIPRO, I believe that this facility will augment the employment opportunity of the state to a considerable extent and will boost up the economic activities in the state. It will pave the way for the young aspiring techies of the state to be employed in their own state after their studies," Das added.

The new plot, offered to Wipro is just 15 minutes drive from the airport and on the side of a 6-lane road. It is within a complete modern township with all facilities. It may be noted that in the vicinity of this area, about 300 acres of land has already been allotted for IT and IT infrastructure companies.West Bengal government has also offered alternative location to Infosys as well. However, there has been no official communication from Infosys in this regard so far.

West Bengal Govt to go ahead with Nayachar chemical hub plans

KOLKATA,17th October,2009: The Lok Sabha poll reverses notwithstanding, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government hasn't given up on its industrialization hopes around the proposed chemical hub at Nayachar. It is readying to draft a changed agreement for the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR).

The chief minister convened a high-level meeting at Writers' Buildings on Friday to do the needful. Among those who attended were other members of the Cabinet sub-committee on industries finance minister Asim Dasgupta and industries minister Nirupam Sen. Others present were land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah, urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, Left Front chief whip in the state Assembly, Md Masin, and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen.

According to sources, the meeting was on several industry-related issues, including the PCPIR. Nandigram had figured prominently as the venue for the mega chemical industrial estate and the PCPIR that was to come up near Haldia when the plan was first floated in 2005, and the subsequent agreement was drafted on these lines. After the bloody resistance to the choice of venue (which, experts feel, was a major cause for the Left's reverses), the government has decided to keep its promises unchanged, keeping an eye on the 2011 Assembly elections.

Nayachar is a 64 sqkm island on the Hooghly in East Midnapore. Prasoon Mukherjee, director of New Kolkata International Development (NKID) which through a joint venture with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) is to develop the infrastructure on the island had earlier said the PCPIR is an expense account for NKID, but the government is bent on going ahead with the project.

A senior Writers' official revealed that the revised agreement, with Nayachar as the changed venue, will now have to be clinched between the state, the Centre and NKID. He said those attending the meeting discussed the draft as well as other industry-related issues, such as granting subsidy to Cals Refinery, which will partner the PCPIR. NKID is a 50:50 joint venture between Mukherjee's Universal Success Enterprises Limited, a company registered in Singapore, and Indonesia's Salim Group. Real estate developer Unitech Limited also had a minority equity interest in NKID, but it has recently sold its stake in the firm.

Keventer Agro invests Rs 125 cr for first cold store chain in Bengal

KOLKATA,October 5, 2009: Kolkata-based Keventer Agro group has invested Rs 125 crore in West Bengal’s first integrated cold store chain project.The integrated cold store chain is part of Keventer’s new foray into fresh foods through Keventer Fresh Limited (KFL).

Mahendra Kumar Jalan, chairman, Keventer, said at the launch of the project, the total land for the project was 250 acres. KFL integrates supply chain management solutions to modern retail and cash & carry formats. KFL has already tied up with Metro Cash & Carry, Aditya Birla Retail, Pantaloons and Reliance Retail, among others. The project was part of the Union food processing ministry’s 100-day programme.

Union minister for food process industries, Subodh Kant Sahay, said that the Union government would extend Rs 10 crore as part of its incentive scheme for cold store chains. The project comprised dry and wet sections. While the dry section was equipped to handle staples, FMCG foods, potatoes and onions, the wet section had facilities like pre-cooling chambers, fruit washing, sorting and grading chambers.

PepsiCo India to make Bengal unit the largest in India

KOLKATA, JUNE 22: At a time when West Bengal government’s industrialisation drive has suffered a major jolt, PepsiCo India is poised to make its Frito-Lay manufacturing unit in the state its largest in the country by 2011-12. PepsiCo India has acquired an extra 4 acres near its existing factory in the state to ramp up production of Frito-Lay -- the food division of the company. Talking to newsmen Mr Animesh Banerjee, vice -president (operations) at PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd (Frito-Lay division), said: "The West Bengal facility will emerge as the largest factory by calender 2011. The factory’s capacity will increase from 25,000 tonne per annum to 50,000 tonne per annum by 2011-12. However, the expansion plan will largely hinge on the demand curve in the next two years." Incidentally, apart from West Bengal, Frito-Lay has manufacturing facilities at Channo in Punjab and Ranjangaon in Pune. PepsiCo India had initially invested Rs 140 crore in its West Bengal facility, which is located at Sankrail Food Park. "In addition, the company will invest another Rs 110 crore in a phased manner to enhance the factory’s capacity," Mr Banerjee said. The unit produces two of its major brands - Frito Lay and Kurkure. Frito-Lay uses around 1.5 lakh tonnes of potatoes per annum for its products, 50% of which comes from contract farming. PepsiCo has partnered with more than 10,000 farmers working in over 12,000 acres across Punjab, UP, Karnataka, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kashmir and Maharashtra for the supply of potatoes. The company aims to collaborate with 25,000 farmers in next five years time for procuring potatoes. Frito-Lay India on Monday launched a new brand Aliva in the baked savoury cracker category. "It is being manufactured at our Ranjangaon facility. With the launch of Aliva, the company aims to create a new sub-segment of great tasting savoury crackers in the greater than 1500 tonne biscuit category. Our aim is to make Aliva much bigger than Kurkure," said Mr Vidur Vyas, executive vice-president (marketing), Frito-Lay India.

Jai Balaji to set up iron ore washing plant in Durgapur

KOLKATA:Sunday, 14 Jun 2009-It is reported that Jai Balaji Industries is to install a CDE iron ore washing plant at their facility at Durgapur in West Bengal. AS per release, with a capacity of 200 tonnes per hour, the plant for Jai Balaji Industries will be the largest installed by CDE in India.

Jai Balaji Industries have introduced the CDE iron ore washing system to replace their existing mobile dry screening system as they seek to improve the final quality of their iron ore which is subsequently used in a number of their steel manufacturing operations. The washing of iron ore reserves is proven to have many advantages over dry screening, most importantly the removal of many contaminants which have a detrimental effect on the final quality of the iron ore.

The introduction of the new CDE iron ore washing system will improve the final quality of the iron ore through an efficient and effective reduction in the levels of contaminants in the raw iron ore. These contaminants such as Alumica, Silica and fine silts and clays create inefficiencies in the steel production process and their effective removal can lead to substantial cost savings in production as well as allowing for the production of high quality steel products.

Ramsarup Industries commissions DRI and WHRD power plant at Kharagpur

KOLKATA,10 June, 2009: Ramsarup Industries Ltd announced that it has commenced production of 500 TPD DRI plant in West Bengal and Waste Heat Recovery Boiler in Kharagpur.The plant was set up using German Outokumpu technology. Its WHRB will generate 20 MW of power along with gas generated from the blast furnace.The release added that “Ramsarup is taking necessary action to sell approx 11 MW of power through the exchange which will give them approx INR 4 crores per month of revenue. Moreover, the Company has received approval from UNFCCC for carbon credit to the tune of 114,000 CER per annum for the next 7 years. The Company will now be in a position to sell the carbon credit at current rates, and this will generate extra revenue of INR 1 crore per month for the next 7 years.”Mr Ashish Jhunjhunwal CMD of Ramsarup Industries Ltd said that "Commencing production of 500 tonnes per day DRI plant at Kharagpur is another milestone in our steady towards improving our topline and remaining a forerunner in our field.