CIL output hike saved India ₹25,900 cr forex in 3 years

KOLKATA: Consumers of Coal India is expected to benefit by Rs 6,000 crore in annual savings under the Goods and Service Tax (GST) while higher production by the company in the last three years helped the country save Rs 25,900 crore in foreign exchange owing to lower imports.

“Coal production has increased substantially in the last three years resulting in a saving of Rs 25,900 crore in imports for the country,” Coal India's chairman Gopal Singh said at the company's annual general meeting here.

Singh said coal imports accounted for 25 per cent of the country's total consumption in 2015-16, and 23 per cent in 2016-17.

Coal India director (finance) C K Dey told shareholders that the GST impact on the company, We have estimated that on an average, the reduction in rate on local sales is about five per cent and on the inter-state sales the rate of reduction in taxes is about three per cent. This (the reduction of tax rates) will give an advantage to the customers to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore (annually).

He said the miner is facing an inverted tax structure under the GST regime as its output is taxed at a lower rate while inputs are taxed on higher rates.

Coal has been made taxable at five per cent in the GST regime while taxes are raging between 18-28 per cent on our inputs. Our output is taxed at five per cent while out inputs are taxed at higher rates. This is a kind of an inverted tax structure and going forward, this will lead to refund situation, he said.

Singh emphasised on swift exploitation of domestic fossil fuel reserves in order to meet future demand and reduce imports.

“The large planned new coal-based thermal capacity is likely to put pressure on coal resources. Coal-based power generation capacity of 125 gigawatt in 2012 and is likely to go up to more than 330441 GW by 2040 (192 GW in FY2017). The demand for these plants is likely to be first met by domestic coal, which will require quick exploitation of our reserves.

“Import dependence in oil and gas is understandable given our poor reserves, but import dependence on coal particularly non-coking coal, is something that can be addressed by swift exploitation of domestic coal reserves,” he said.

Singh said the share of coal in India's commercial primary energy supply was 55 per cent in 2015-16, and is expected to remain high at 48-54 per cent, even in 2040.

He added that the stateowned miner needs to achieve double-digit growth rate in order to meet the production targets.

CIL has maintained its projection of one billion tonne coal production target by 2020.

The company produced 554.14 million tonnes of coal in 2016-17, while coal off-take was 543.32 million tonnes during the same period. MUMBAI: Keventer Agro Ltd (KAL) on Thursday said it has raised $25 million from Mandala Capital, a private equity firm, to fuel growth of its dairy and agro food processing businesses.

The move marks a significant development in the agro food processing sector and boosting foreign direct investment (FDI) interest into West Bengal, a key market for KAL.

"We have secured a capital of $25 million (about Rs 170 crore) from Mandala Capital. The capital raised will be utilised for future expansion plans," a company statement said here.

Keventer Agro is currently on an aggressive growth, path eyeing significant surge in its business scale. The company has revamped its business strategy and to this effect, the governing board of the company has rearranged the key functions of its top management.

"We have charted out a robust growth plan for each of our businesses, namely dairy, banana or frozen foods. With this fresh infusion of capital, we intend to invest about $100 million into our dairy business in West Bengal within the next five years and grow our food processing business exponentially - all towards our endeavour of turning into a $500 million company by 2022," Keventer Agro Chairman and Managing Director Mayank Jalan said. With an objective to become one of the leading dairy companies in Eastern India, KAL Group-owned Metro Dairy will see a four-fold increase in production from the current 2.5 lakh litres a day to 1 million litres a day, he said.

Established in 1986, the company acquired the Kolkata franchise of Edward Keventer's operations and now aims to take the 127 years legacy in food & dairy to new heights. The Rs 800 crore Keventer Agro is the flagship enterprise of Rs 1,800 crore Keventer Group which has diverse interests in food and beverage, hospitality, realty, infrastructure and exports.