The Q2FY25 revenue for Coal India (CIL) was reported at Rs 30,700 crore (down 6 per cent year-on-year or Y-o-Y and 16 per cent sequentially). The blended average selling price was Rs 1,622/tonne (down 6 per cent Y-o-Y and 3 per cent quarter-on-quarter or Q-o-Q). Adjusted operating profit stood at Rs 7,200 crore (down 20 per cent Y-o-Y and 38 per cent Q-o-Q) due to lower-than-expected e-auction volumes and higher costs.
Coal India's (CIL's) revenue for the first quarter of 2024-25 (Q1FY25) came in at Rs 36,500 crore, up 1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and down 3 per cent sequentially, which was in line with consensus. The blended average selling price was Rs 1,687/tonne, down 5 per cent Y-o-Y and down 1 per cent Q-o-Q, which was below estimates. The adjusted operating profit (excluding overburden removal or OBR costs) stood at Rs 11,500 crore up 3 per cent Y-o-Y and up 17 per cent Q-o-Q, which beat the street. This was due to lower operating expenses.
Coal India looks set to achieve its 2024-25 (FY25) production targets. If it can achieve its aim of ramping up Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) and e-auction volumes, along with cost-saving, evacuation and infrastructure-improvement projects, the company could maintain its momentum as a critical infrastructure and core industry performer. Analysts estimate e-auction volumes of 108 million tonnes (MT) in FY25 and 120 MT for FY26, which is encouraging given the premium of e-auction prices which are consistently over 50 per cent higher than FSA.
India may have to lean more on West Asian nations for supplies of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a cooking fuel, in the coming years after Indian state-run refiners drew up big plans to diversify into producing more profitable petrochemicals. This shift leads to reduced LPG output, Indian refining executives said. The mantra for state-run oil companies, from Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer Petronet LNG, which are looking to diversify their businesses from lower-margin fuels, has been value-added petrochemicals.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, operating across energy, industry, and infrastructure sectors. The investment path for the stock is based on a large order backlog, continued strong order inflows, and rising power demand, which should push demand for BHEL's equipment and services. BHEL has historically held over 70 per cent market share in power projects.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
India offers policy stability, transparency and consultative process of governance to incubate investment, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday as she invited investments in prospecting energy resources in the country. Stressing that there is a need for investments in coal, she said, "We need greater investments also to help in gasification of coal. I invite all of you to energetically participate in the (sixth round of commercial mines) auction processes which have been launched today and keep your options also further extended for greater extraction of minerals in India." During this 'Amrit Kaal', India needs all the basic minerals as the country is in the process of rapid growth, she added.
The proposed auction has business-friendly terms and conditions, including reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against royalty and liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalise the coal mines. Besides, 100 per cent FDI through automatic route has been allowed.
India's largest oil firm IOC will build the nation's first 'green hydrogen' plant at its Mathura refinery, as it aims to prepare for a future catering to the growing demand for both oil and cleaner forms of energy. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has drawn a strategic growth path that aims to maintain focus on its core refining and fuel marketing businesses while making bigger inroads into petrochemicals, hydrogen and electric mobility over the next 10 years, its chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said. The company will not set captive power plants at all its future refinery and petrochemical expansion projects and instead use the 250 MW of electricity it produces from renewable sources like solar power, he told PTI in an interview.
The coal-bearing states shall be getting additional revenue from such coal mines.
Launching the auction of mines for commercial mining, that is expected to garner Rs 33,000 crore of capital investment in the country over next five to seven years, Modi said it not only marks the beginning of unlocking of the country's coal sector from the "lockdown of decades", but aims at making India the largest exporter of coal.
Close on the heels of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries seeking coal mines to convert coal into oil, younger brother Anil-run Reliance Natural Resources has applied for coal blocks to turn coal into gas. Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) president J P Chalasani in a January 14 letter to Coal Secretary H C Gupta sought allocation of "captive coal blocks for the purpose of converting coal to gas."
London Stock Exchange-listed Essar Energy Plc plans to bid for coal-bed methane (CBM) and shale gas blocks in Indonesia next month.
After the Congress secured an unexpected victory at the recently held Lok Sabha polls, United States President Barack Obama issued a statement, saying he looks forward to "continuing to work with the Indian government to enhance the warm partnership between our two countries." However, the Obama administration has not yet taken any decisive steps toward cementing Indo-US ties, observes a report from California's Pacific Council on International Policy and FICCI.
Though crude oil prices in the market are at a record high and analysts say they could breach the $200-per-barrel mark soon, consumption has grown rapidly in India as prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas are heavily subsidised by the government and its oil production and marketing companies. Higher demand, coupled with higher prices, is also likely to drive up the country's oil import bill to over $100 billion in this financial year.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro Ltd said on Friday it has bagged a Rs 368-crore (Rs 3.68 billion) order from a power generation company in China for supply of critical gasification equipment.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India's largest profit making firm, on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with Royal Dutch Shell
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on Wednesday said it will bring to production three offshore fields over the next 18 months.
Venezuela and India would start a pilot project on heavy oil exploration in Rajasthan in August, Centre said on Tuesday.
Larsen & Toubro Limited, India's largest engineering and construction conglomerate, which has already won several contracts in China, is planning to make a major foray to tap the booming market of the communist giant.
Restructure oil PSUs on a selective basis: Pant
Be it roads, railways, ports, civil aviation, energy or electricity, the Narendra Modi govt has invigorated all these sectors since it took over, says Arvind Panagariya.
Rejecting Congress' charge that projects he has been inaugurating in recent months were all started during their time, he said, as prime minister, he would have been happy if the projects were completed 15 years back and led to creation of jobs.
The PM alleged that a 'PC' (percentage commission) culture has become the state government's identity.
With RIL supplying about 47 per cent of the domestic petcoke production, current dynamics are bound to change.
Larsen & Toubro, India's largest engineering, construction and technology company, is aggressively expanding its footprint across various places abroad
In its draft report, the research agency has recommended linking the valuation of coal reserves to be put up for bidding to international prices.
"There is need to extract iron ore, coal but it should not be done at the cost of tribals," he said.
Ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference starting on December 7, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh told Parliament on Thursday that India will go with a positive frame of mind, but will not accept any legally binding cuts.
Markets bleed; Sensex tumbles 654 points, Nifty below 8,350.
A raft of new incentives in the financial rescue package will reap immediate benefits for renewable energy providers.
Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, who is traveling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the India-Brazil and South Africa summit at Johannesburg, said India must be part of a global nuclear system.
Coal-based generators plan upgrades, clean tech over 5 years.
With Rs 67,550 cr, Reliance leads investors' pack to Vibrant Gujarat.
Kar mentioned the increasing importance of natural gas as a substitute for oil and coal as fuel for thermal power generators in future.
India and China need to chart a different path to develop low carbon economies to combat global warming, Chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri said. In both India and China, there is now a serious debate. "In India I can see it for sure because the prime minister is quite concerned about this issue. He set up the advisory council on climate change," he said.
Re-instatement of 5% custom duty on crude imports will help.