The government has cleared an ordinance for e-auctioning of coal blocks that enables commercial mining by private companies in future.

Finally, bringing some relief to the Centre the core infrastructure industries have rebounded in the month of April. The surge in infrastructure output from 2.5 per cent in March to 4.2 per cent in April indicates an uptick in the economy.

In a research note, rating agency CRISIL said new home sales may decline 400 basis points (bps) and volume growth for steel and cement may shrink about 100 bps owing to the liquidity tightening measures of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In order to stabilise rupee exchange rate against dollar, RBI raised short-term interest rates and restricted amount that bank

Lack of institutional capacity for developing coal blocks, limited availability of sound contract miners, and procedural challenges faced by the captive coal block owners are major issues haunting the coal mining in India. Dealing with these challenges is important for improving sector supplies, rather than privatisation, writes Dilip Kumar Jena.

India’s overall cargo traffic at its ports (both major and minor) is expected to grow to 985.20 million tonne or 5.9 per cent in 2012-13. In 2011-12,

Procurement practices are constantly being redefined, yet understanding of technology and competition is still young, say experts.About 60 percent of an Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) project cost goes to procurement. Have you seen an evolution from procurement to supply chain management?

A shortfall in coal supply can badly affect the power production of the country as over 70 per cent of total power produced in India is from coal-based projects.

The coal ministry is expected to table the Coal Regulatory Authority Bill in the Parliament in the ongoing Budget Session. If passed, it would mean a new era in transparency in captive coal block allocation.

Service tax exemption of 25 per cent from taxable value is being provided to services of transport of coastal goods and goods transported through national waterways or inland water with no CENVAT credit of taxes paid on inputs, input services and capital goods. The effective service tax rate is 7.725 per cent.