Coal India Ltd (CIL), which contributes 84 per cent of the country’s production, is likely to end the current fiscal with a shortfall against its annual production target for 2016-17, analysts and industry stakeholders say. They, however, predicted that the production and sales are expected to achieve “marginal growth” over the last fiscal. During 2016-17, the miner set a target of producing 598.61 million tonnes (mt) of coal with an 11.11 per cent growth over the 538.75 mt produced in 2015-16. Its sales were at 534.50 mt in the last fiscal.

“Coal India is expected to end the year with an around 550 million tonnes of production, thereby missing the annual target by 40-50 million tonnes.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has sought a review of the natural gas pricing formula as rates have dropped below cost. India’s largest natural gas producer demanded a floor or minimum price of natural gas be fixed at USD 4.2 per million British thermal unit for the business to make economic sense. The BJP-led government in October 2014 had evolved a new pricing formula using rates prevelant in gas surplus nations like the US, Canada and Russia to determine rates in a net importing country. Prices have halved to USD 2.5 per mmBtu since the formula was implemented.

State-run Hudco has received capital markets regulator Sebi’s approval to raise funds through an initial share sale as part of the government’s disinvestment drive. Hudco had filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) in January and got the markets watchdog’s “observation” on March 10, which is necessary for any company to launch public offer. The initial public offer will comprise sale of 200,190,000 equity shares –10 per cent stake — by the central government through an offer for sale (OFS) route, as per the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP).

NEW DELHI: Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland is looking to strengthen presence in the country's logistics sector that is estimated to touch USD 370 billion by 2020.

The company is enhancing its range of fully built vehicles in order to tap the sector which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he is hopeful of rolling out the biggest tax reform GST from July 1 which will make goods and services cheaper and tax evasion difficult.

The Finance Minister also said achieving a growth rate of 7-8 per cent is plausible and if economies pick up globally then the country's growth rate can go up further.

The benchmark BSE Sensex declined further by about 222 points to 29,263.74 and the NSE Nifty slipped below the 9,100-mark in early trade today due to selling in pharma, auto and oil stocks.

The 30-share Sensex fell by 221.71 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 29,263.74 with 25 of its constituents trading the negative zone. The barometer had lost 163.54 points in the previous two sessions.

Two-wheeler auto-major TVS Motor said it would close financial year 2017 with a 14.3 per cent market share, close to its target of 15 per cent. The company also said it would be launching one new bike and scooter and that it had plans to invest Rs 350 crore in financial year 2018.

K N Radhakrishnan, CEO, TVS Motor, said that during the third quarter, the company's market share was 15 per cent. But from November to February, due to demonetisation, poor monsoon and other factors, the industry slowed down and so did the company's growth.

Leading Indian automobile companies are facing the impact of a recent credit squeeze from banks in neighboring export markets like Sri Lanka and Nepal. Those impacted include Maruti Suzuki, Renault, Nissan and Bajaj Auto among others.

The development comes on the heels of demonetisation.

Some of the coal-fired power plants in Odisha which have commenced commercial operations or are at very advanced stages of commissioning are up for grabs. Companies looking to augment power capacities through the inorganic route are eyeing these assets in Odisha.

JSW Energy, part of the Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, is believed to be in the race for buying out the thermal power assets of Monnet Power and Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL) in Odisha. Monnet Power’s 1,050 Mw coal-based power plant near Angul was in advanced stage of commissioning.

Ahead of the merger with parent State Bank of India (SBI), associate banks have started rolling out voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) for their employees with a very short deadline.

The VRS rolled out by the State Bank of Patiala has asked the employees to accept the offer within 15 days, between March 22 and April 5. A further seven days, till April 12, has been given to withdraw the application. An employee of the bank said the timeline given was too short.

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