Coal news and updates

Odisha seeks 0.18 million tonne coal allotment for MSMEs

The Odisha government has asked the Coal India Limited (CIL) to allocate 1,83, 000 tonne of coal to meet the requirement of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in the state during 2015-16.

The government, this year, has nominated state-run Odisha Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) in addition to the Bhubaneswar branch of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) as the nodal agencies for the supply of coal to the MSMEs.

" You are requested to allocated 108000 metric tonne (mt ) of coal to NSIC, Bhubaneswar and 75, 000 tonne of coal to OSIC, totalling the annual requirement of 183000 mt of coal for the financial year 2015-16", PS Mishra, additional secretary , state MSME department, wrote to general manager (sales and marketing), CIL.

The coal requirement of a MSME unit is calculated on the basis of a joint capacity assessment made by concerned District Industries Centre (DIC) and MSME Development Institute under the Ministry of MSME, Government of India.

DIC general manager then recommends the case to the specified state-nominated agency for distribution of fuel with the approval of the district collector.

It may be noted that the nodal agency NSIC has been effectively handling the supply of coal to the MSMEs in the state after busting of a scam in this regard in 2010 which involved siphoning of crores of rupees through supply of coal at concessional rate to bogus small scale industries. OSIC was the sole nodal agency for coal supply during the period the scam was perpetrated.

Interestingly, after being divested of the responsibility following the scam, the state government has once again recommended OSIC's name as its nominee to act as one of the nodal agencies for supply of fuel to the MSMEs, sources said.

There are more than 40 coal consuming units in the state that includes refractories, casting units, chemical factories, coal briquettes, textile mills etc.

source: http://www.business-standard.com