- Deccan Cements has firmed up plans to expand cement capacity at its plant located at Mahankaligudem village in Nalgonda district of Telangana.
- The capacity will be augmented from 1.8 million tpa to four million tpa by installation of new unit (Unit-III).
- The plant will also include expansion of clinker capacity from 1.7 million tpa to 3.2 million tpa and waste heat recovery power plant capacity from 18 MW to 33 MW.
- The work on the project is expected to commence by September 2020. The completion date is scheduled for mid-2021.
- Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the government aims to make Chhattisgarh a steel hub of the country. Mr Pradhan said that the steel industry has an important role to play in making India a five trillion dollar economy.
- Coal India Ltd (CIL‘s) coal supply to the power sector registered a decline of 6.8% to 377.86 million tonnes (MT) in the April-January period of the ongoing fiscal against 405.61 MT despatch in the year-ago period, according to official data.
- However, the coal despatch by CIL to the power sector in January registered an increase of 2.9% to 43.20 MT, over 42 MT in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, it said.
- State-owned Coal India Ltd allocated 24.87 million tonnes of dry fuel for the spot electronic auction (e-auction) during April-January, down by 8.19% over 27.09 million tonne (MT) in the same period of last year, according to the government data. For January 2020, the coal allocation for the e-auction scheme declined to 3.62 MT from 4.83 MT in the corresponding month of 2019.
- National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) pegged the economic growth for the current fiscal at 4.9%, a tad down from 5% estimated by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
- However, for 2020-21, the NCAER expects the Indian economy to improve its growth rate to 5.6%.
