- To boost the coal demand hit by the ongoing lockdown, the government announced a slew of measures like increased dry fuel supply for linkage consumers. Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi announced several relief measures for the consumers of Coal India Ltd (CIL), including the power sector, in the wake of situation arising from coronavirus, according to a coal ministry statement.
- Iron ore shipments from Indian ports in FY20 touched its peak in the last six years. At the end of February, the ports had carried 50 million tonnes of the key ingredient in steel making.
- Iron ore has recorded a spurt of 43% in volumes, registering the highest growth among all commodities. By contrast, fertilizer, liquid cargo and container cargo rose by 10.3%, 2.5% and 2.1% respectively. Coal traffic at ports dipped by 8.3% as demand subsided.
- Industrial production growth scaled a seven-month peak of 4.5% in February, as mining and electricity output rebounded, suggesting a fragile recovery before Covid-19 hit economy hard.
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), ReNew Power, Azure Power, SB Energy, and Acme have commissioned maximum capacity of utility-scale solar projects in the country in calendar year 2019 (CY19), according to a recent study. These firms contributed about 50% of total solar capacity installations in the country last year.
- The report estimated about 8.3 gigawatt (GW) of new utility-scale solar projects and 2 GW of rooftop solar projects to be commissioned in 2020.
- Indian Railways has fallen short of its previous year’s freight loading figures, for the very first time in the last 40 years. With the freight loading figure at 1,209 million tonnes, it is almost 14 million tonnes short of its freight figures as of the last financial year’s end, according to an IE report.
- The infrastructure sector got a big boost in the financial year 2019-20, with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) accomplishing construction of 3,979 kilometres of national highways across the country. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, this is the highest highway construction ever achieved by the NHAI in a financial year.