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Economic times reports that Orissa based company Scan steel is tying up with Delhi based steel major ‘AISCO’ for production and marketing under brand name ‘AISCO TMT’.

Perhaps, Industries in Orissa should learn to develop their own brands. Excerpts:

‘Delhi based steel company, AISCO and Orissa based SCAN Steel Group have tied up to undertake production and marketing of Steel TMT Bars under the brand name of AISCO TMT.The Group will take on the process of reduction of iron ore, making of sponge iron and casting of billets at its fully integrated facility at Orissa.

TMT Production will be undertaken at its main rolling unit at Orissa and various other group-owned and conversion units located at various parts of the country.

According to Mr. Praveen Aggarwal, Managing Director of AISCO Group, this will help them move towards overall growth of the company and the group will provide quality material for use in construction Industry and educate the consumers about shortcomings of poor quality steel available in the market.’

Economic times reports that Some Punjab based industries plan to invest in Orissa.
The reports state that Arti Steel has already invested 450 crore out of a total investment of 900 crores. The first step in Auto parts investment is being planned with GNA Axle.

Even Hero Honda , bicycle manufacturer plans to invest in Orissa. Hopefully, this will be the start of a trend. Excerpts:

“Orissa’s rich natural resources are now luring the industries in Punjab, with the an auto parts maker and steel manufacturer committing separate investments to the tune of Rs 960 crore to the state.

While Ludhiana-based Aarti Steels had committed an investment of Rs 900 crore for setting up a half-a-million capacity steel unit in the state, Goraya-based auto parts manufacturer GNA Axle Group will invest Rs 60 crore for manufacturing axle shafts, gears for heavy vehicles.

Leading bicyle maker Hero Cycles is also quite keen on exploring the possibility of making an investment in Orissa.

“We have proposed to invest Rs 60 crore within the next four years in order to set up an auto component manufacturing unit which will cater to export as well as domestic markets,” GNA Axle Group Director Randeep Singh said.

The Orissa government has promised to make available 100 acres of freehold land to the company at a token amount of Rs 2 lakh per acre. In addition to it, the government has also offered power at a rate of Rs 2.90 per unit without excise duty.

“We set up our unit in March 2003 in Orissa after carrying out a survey. The state can offer many benefits in the shape of availability of raw material for steel producing unit like us. So far, we have invested Rs 450 crore in this project while balance will be invested soon,” said Aarti Steels Director Rajeev Mittal.

The unit is is expected to be completed next year, he added.

“In Orissa, besides getting cheap power, we will also be in a position to get raw material at a much cheaper rate as we will be nearer to the source of raw material,” reasoned Singh while adding that with this new unit, our freight cost would also get reduced significantly for supplying our finished products to domestic as export markets.

Leading bicycle company Hero Cycles is also quite keen on exploring the possibility of making an investment in Orissa. “We will certainly explore the possibility of investing in that state which is full of natural resources,” Hero Cycles, Director Vijay Munjal said.

Recently, a high powered delegation including Commissioner-cum-secretary, Department of Industries, Orissa, was in Punjab for inviting industrialists to tap the investment opportunities here.“

Following are excerpts from televisionpoint.com’s report.

 Mumbai based Zee Interactive Learning Systems (ZILS) is looking at its child care division, Kidzcare, as a major growth-driver in the years to come. …

Arun Khetan, CEO, ZILS said, “The franchised childcare centres, Kidzcare, are geared to meet the gap in proper existing childcare programmes. We will be setting up a total of 35 Kidzcare centres in this financial year.”

According to Khetan, the demand for these centres is mostly from the IT and BPO crowd. “Thus, the Kidzcare centres will mostly come up in places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.”

ZILS has plans to add another 70-75 centres in the next fiscal, while the target by 2011-12 has been set at 500 centres. The company expects Kidzcare to contribute about 25% to its turnover within the next five years. The Kidzcare concept operates on the franchisee model. The cost of setting up each centre ranges between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, not including the premises.

Pioneer reports on OMFED‘s milk collection and its future plans. Following are some excerpts.

The Orissa Milk Federation (OMFED) established an all-time record on Sunday by collecting 4, 11,237 liters of milk.

This became possible because of the dairy development programme spread over 30 districts of the State.

The district milk federation of Cuttack alone collected 2, 2,564 liters of milk, which is the highest among all the district milk federations in eastern India.

… OMFED plans to collect 10 lakh liters of milk per day by 2012. To build the infrastructure required to collect as much milk, OMFED has already started its work.

It has submitted a plan of Rs 15 crore to the Panchayati Raj department for enlarging the capacity of the existing dairies, building more bulk coolers in the rural areas, pressing into service more tankers for transportation of milk, establishment of new fodder plants and their capacity enhancement.

With the establishment of more fodder plants the producers will be supplied fodders at subsidised rates, which in turn will give a boost to milk production.

Following is an excerpt from Deepika Global’s report on this.

(UNI) The National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), …, has achieved a net profit of Rs 446.66 crore for the first quarter ended June 2007.

According to the unaudited financial results for the 3-month period of the financial year 2007-08 taken on record in the Board of Directors meeting held in New Delhi today, the company achieved a net profit of Rs 446.66 crore, with a sales turnover of Rs.1287.12 crore.

However, during the first quarter of previous fiscal, the figures were up at Rs 622.30 crore and Rs 1620.82 crore respectively.

The company also achieved higher alumina production of 3,87,800 tonne compared to 3,58,100 tonne in the first quarter of the previous year.

Following are excerpts from a Pragativadi report:

The Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) has posted its highest-ever turnover of Rs 593.53 crore during 2006-07, registering an increase of 26.67 per cent over the previous year.

… the turnover included export earnings of Rs 317.74 crore, that went up by 48.52 percent. The improved operational performance, coupled with higher product prices, resulted in PBIDT increasing by 45.48 per cent to Rs 140.53 crore.

… the company produced a record 130,563 tonnes of ferro chrome during the year, including the tonnage sourced under a conversion contract with an associate company as it shifted focus away from ferro silicon, the output of which declined by 19.39 percent to 30,796 tonnes.

… financial closure had been achieved for a 30 MW dual-fuel power plant at Choudwar that is expected to be operational in 18 months. This will take total power generation capacity to 138 MW, …

Euitybulls reports on these announcements. Following are some excerpts.

… capital expenditure of Rs 142 crore (+10%) for setting up another cement grinding unit at Kapilas Cement Works, Kapilas Road in Jagatpur Tehsil of Cuttack District of Orissa.

… capital expenditure of Rs 250 crores (+10%) for setting up 2×25 MW Thermal Captive Power Plant and Coal Beneficiation Plant at Rajgangpur Cement Works, District Sundergarh, Orissa.

… capital expenditure of Rs 7.66 crores (+10%) for setting up 1.0 Million Tonnes per annum Hammer Mill at Lanjiberna near Rajgangpur works, Orissa.

In a news item on the Singapore business summit znetasia mentions that there will be one India business summit which showcases emerging states of India. Orissa is mentioned as an emerging state in that list.

“GES 2007 will also host the Global Indian Business Summit 2007, which will focus on the country’s emerging states such as Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Rajastan and Gujarat.”

New Indian express reports that all villages in Orissa will be lighted up by 2009.

Excerpts of the report are as follows:

By 2008-end, all the villages in Orissa would be provided with electricity, said Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandrasekhar Sahu.

He was launching the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) for Ganjam and Gajapati districts here on Thursday. He said the implementation of RGGVY in the State had been entrusted to three organisations which would supply power to every village unconditionally.

Earlier, power was supplied to the villages with more than 300 households, but the Union Government under RGGVY has decided to supply power to all the villages irrespective of number of families, he added. While the Power Grid has been entrusted with electrifying 12 districts, NTPC will electrify an equal number of districts.

The electrification of the rest six has been entrusted to NHPC, he said and added all the below poverty line families would be supplied electricity free of cost. He said the Centre is providing 90 per cent capital subsidy and the rest 10 per cent in terms of soft loan to the State Government for implementation of the programme. The Minister said 3,162 villages in Ganjam and 1,512 villages in Gajapati would get power by 2008.

D.K.Roy, Orissa in-charge of NHPC, said his organisation has been given the task of electrifying Ganjam, Gajapati, Boudh, Puri, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts. In the six districts 4,91,520 BPL families would be provided with power at an estimated cost of Rs 660.18 crore.

He said the electrification drive would be in two packages. In the first package, 55,000 BPL families in Ganjam would be supplied power at an estimated cost of Rs Rs 52.17 crore and in the second package another 57,263 BPL families would get power at an estimated cost of Rs 46.56 crores.”

Business standard reports that some of the betel cultivators have accepted POSCO’s compensation for these Betel farms.

Also, It must be noted, that these Betel cultivation was being done in Govt. enroached land. Currently out of 4004 acres required by POSCO, 3567 acres is Govt. land and 438 acres is pvt. land.

Excerpts:

In a major breakthrough in the imbroglio over land acquisition for Posco’s 12-million-tonne steel project near Paradip in Orissa, betel cultivators at Nuagaon village, within the project site, have dismantled their vineyards in lieu of compensation.

According to sources, four betel farm owners have accepted compensation to the tune of Rs 4.8 lakh, while 20 more who had surrendered their claim on betel vineyards are expected to be paid around Rs 15 lakh in a couple of days.

The farmers are being paid according to the rate fixed by the state government. Company sources said they had received about 200 applications from local farmers for payment of compensation for the surrender of their claim.

These were being verified and would be cleared in a phased manner, they added.

It may be noted that betel leaves are mostly cultivated over encroached government land in the proposed Posco plant area. There are about 1,600 betel farms in Nuagaon alone.

Posco required for its plant 4004 acres of land in three grampanchayats, namely Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gada Kujanga. Of this, 3567 acres is government land and 437 acres is private land. Most of the government land, however, is encroached upon by betel cultivators.

It may be noted that about 3,000 people working at the betel farms in Gadakujanga, Dhinkia and Nuagaon are among the most vocal opponents of the project as they fear loss of employment.

They have become soft targets for anti-Posco agitators. Keeping this in mind, the state government is framing a separate package for these workers, in addition to the existing rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy formulated last year.

According to state Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy, the stalemate over land acquisition is gradually giving way and people in the site area are coming out in support of the project.

Economic times reports that Mittal is more postive of the progress in Orissa for it’s steel plant.

Excerpts”

BHUBANESWAR: Arcelor-Mittal group CEO L N Mittal expressed his preference for the company’s proposed mega steel plant in Orissa over the one planned in Jharkhand, even as the Orissa government committed itself to provide requisite land and raw material for the greenfield project.If things go as planned, Mittal even indicated to CM Naveen Patnaik and senior government functionaries that the world’s largest steel company is keen to start leg work in January 2008.

“We are very happy with the pace of progress in Orissa. We would certainly prefer Orissa to Jharkhand considering the progress,” Mittal said, emerging from a 150-minute meeting with the CM and his team.

“We are all working hard towards starting the project as fast as possible,” he told reporters, without mentioning any deadline. The steel moghul said he was “very happy” with the way things have moved ever since the company signed an MoU with the state government in December 2006 for a 12 million tonne per annum steel plant in Keonjhar district.

“The Dastur co is preparing the detailed project report and it should be ready by mid-2008,” he said.

On the mines linkage, Mittal, who was accompanied by his son Aditya and Mittal-India CEO Sanak Mishra, said after the “very detailed discussions” with the CM, he was “very confident” about getting required access to mines. He added that he was “very optimistic” about effectively tackling rehabilitation and resettlement issues.

According to official sources, the steel monarch requested the state government to acquire at least a part of the 8,000-acre land earmarked for the project, especially the encroachment-free government land, so that the company could begin some “work on the ground early next year”. Mittal, the sources said, sought to know about the mining linkage and the government assured him full support without committing any specific mines.

 Samaja has the following report on it.

New Indian Express has a report that mentions other places in Orissa where similar projects are being taken up.

Mahishiakada and Jamuganda – two villages in Dhenkanal and Nayagarh districts respectively – never had the experience of electricity.

Drawing supply lines and installing poles would almost have been unthinkable but for a non-conventional strategy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), which included these remote villages under its Village Energy Security Programme (VESP) has electrified these two habitations of about 200 households.

A 10 kilo watt genset that uses just small wood chips has been able to give the villages – each has one – uninterrupted power for seven to 10 days at one go. The villagers, besides using it for illumination purposes in evening, are able to run water pumps too. Both projects were inaugurated earlier this week.

The VESP projects look beyond mere electrification of remote un-electrified villages for they aim to provide a holistic energy service package to people inhabiting in such pockets, Chief Executive of Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) Ajit Bhartuar said.

In fact, the two projects which have been taken up on test basis are second and third such projects taken up by MNRE in India, the first being in Madhya Pradesh.

The projects are being implemented by the Village Energy Committee members who have been trained on operational details. The committees are helped either by local NGOs or Divisional Forest Officers. While the Ministry comes up with 90 per cent assistance, balance is contributed by villagers. In cases, local development funds are also accessed.

While the Mahishiakada project has been set up at a cost of Rs 15.96 lakh, the other was established with an estimated Rs 19.56 lakh. In the State, test projects are being implemented in 13 remote villages of Koraput, Nowrangpur, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal and Cuttack.

Odisha.com reports that South Eastern Railway will start passenger carrying train between Keonjhar and Tata from August 15th. Some of the stations between Keonjhar and Tata are Keonjhargarh(98)- Goaldih(109)- Porjanpur(116)- Nayagarh(130)- Jaroli(146)- Bansapani (155)-Murg Mahadev Rd(164)-Deojhar(167)-Padapahar (183)- Dangoaposi(188) – Maluka(198)- Kendposi(208)- Talaburu(217)-Jhinkpani(226)-Singhpokharia(235) –Chaibasa (242)-Pandrasali(250)-Rajkharswan(262) (between Chakradharpur and Tata) … Tata (304). Currently a Janshatabdi runs from Howrha to Tata to Barbil via Padapahar. So the proposed new train will newly connect people with access to stations in between Keonjhar and Padapahar to Tata and the rest of the world.

Following is Dharitri’s report on it.

In the last two days couple of press releases have come out from the Minister of Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan. The first one assures POSCO of all help and the second one assures Laxmi Mittal about his support for ore linkages for his proposed steel plants in Jharkhand and Orissa.

Statesman reports that the central government is planing to establish one of three animal rescue centers in Orissa. Following are excerpts of that report.

Kapilas is chosen only to house the wild lives rescued from different places for protection of wild animals. …

Kapilas is chosen for various reasons such as suitable infrastructure, water flows, habitable environment for wild animals, natural forest growth, an existing deer park and communication for proper management and other facilities. Divisional forest division has already communicated to government about existing facilities and amenities available in Kapilas.

The purpose of the centre is to bring those wild animals being wounded or troubling villagers in human habitation to be brought to the rescue centre from different places. Thus animals including elephants will be protected and villagers be tension free. After primary care they will be sent back to forest. Union ministry will take a decision in the last week of this month to approach the Supreme Court for final approval. If approved, Kapilas will be first rescue centre in Orissa.

Kapilas is 16 kms from Dhenkanal and considered a tourist spot.

The Statesman reports on OMC’s turnover in Quarter 1. Following are some excerpts.

The Quarter-I (Q-1) turnover of Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) during 2007-08 has reached Rs 332.04 crore, which shows a rise of 68 per cent, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. In the corresponding period of last fiscal 2006-07, it was Rs 197.62 crore.
In the last fiscal, during 2006-07, the corporation’s turnover had crossed the four figure mark and pegged at a record of Rs 1,080 crore, with a profit of Rs 540 crore.

… The Q-1 turnovers of 2005-06 and 2004-05 were Rs 124.47 crore and Rs 117.61 crore respectively.

Business Standard in a report mentions the following numbers in regards to IOC’s plan in Paradip.

IOC is also planning around Rs 6,000 crore petrochemical complex at its upcoming 15 mtpa refinery in Paradip, Orissa.

Enconomic Times mentions this in another context. Following are some relevant excerpts.

… the US Department of Commerce (USDC) has selected Devi Seafoods, Andhra Pradesh and Falcon Marine, Orissa, as the mandatory respondents on the basis of their export volumes.

These two companies are two of the largest exporters of warm water shrimp accounting for 22% of exports to the US market.

Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report on this.

Taking its ‘Campus connect programme’ a step ahead, Infosys BPO on Monday launched ‘Project Genesis’ here to train lecturers on BPO skills for raising the employability potential of students in the ITES sector.

The project has achieved a resounding success in states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and helped students not only gain employment in Infosys, but develop confidence in their abilities. Since its launch in October 2005, Infosys BPO has worked with more than 1,000 lecturers in 360 colleges in these states and trained more than 12,000 students.

The project would be extended to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu apart from Orissa this year.

Launching the programme, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged Infosys BPO chairman Mohandas Pai, present on the occasion, to start a BPO unit in the State. “We are open to the idea but we would first seek to build a pool of skilled professionals in the State and test their skills before coming up with such a centre,” he said while talking to mediapersons later.

Pai also evinced keen interest for a second campus in the city with the provision of SEZ status. The existing campus, which clocked Rs 570 crore in export last fiscal, would soon touch its full capacity with 4,500 employees.

Project Genesis would train 300 teachers from both government and private colleges from across the State. It would focus mostly on imparting language enhancement techniques and analytical skills, key attributes for BPO industry. On completion of the fortnight-long programme, the teachers would groom the students. Each student would have to pass through three tests. The programme would be be held periodically.

Pai said, Infosys plans to recruit several thousand students from the State in the coming years and engage actively in strengthening academic collaboration with colleges. “We would also tie up with universities for systematic intervention in updating course curriculum.”

He announced that Infosys would be funding a chair in the upcoming IIIT campus here for computer science with a corpus fund of Rs 1 crore.

The Economic Times reports that Dhamara port is expected to be operational in 2010. Following are some excerpts from that report.

The first phase of construction of the Rs 2,400-crore Dhamra port project in Orissa, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and L&T, would be completed by March 2010, a company official said on Tuesday.

“We will complete the first phase of the port by 2010 which will be capable of handling 25 million tons of cargo,” Dhamra Port Company Ltd CEO Santosh K Mohapatra said here on the sidelines of a CII Logistics seminar. …

The port, which aims to serve industries in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, would initially deal with bulk cargo like coal, iron-ore and steel.

In the first phase, two berths would be constructed capable of handling 25 million tons cargo. The capacity could be scaled upto 85 million tons with a total of 13 berths.

The port, when completed, would be the deepest one in eastern India with an 18-metre draught capable of handling super size vessels with capacity of up to 1,80,000 tons.

A new railway track to Dhamra may be built for movement of cargo to the port. Of the proposed 62 km of railway track, land acquisition for 52 km of track has already been completed.

Telegraph also reports on it and mentions that Dhamara port may try to become an SEZ. Following are some excerpts from the Telegraph report.

The Dhamra port in Orissa is exploring the option of turning itself into a special economic zone (SEZ).

The 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is coming up on a 900-acre plot on the Orissa coast. Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) plans to develop two berths, at an investment of Rs 2,400 crore, to handle bulk cargo such as coal and iron ore.

Santosh K. Mohapatra, chief executive officer of the company, said contractors had been appointed and orders placed for the project.

“We hope to complete the first phase, capable of handling 25 million tonnes of cargo, by April 2010,” he said.

Asked if the company planned to seek SEZ status, he said such an idea was being considered. …

To begin with, the Dhamra port will handle raw materials for steel plants coming up in Kalinganagar and in nearby areas. Tata Steel itself is building a 6mt plant at Kalinganagar. “Later we may consider to have port-based industries there,” Mohapatra said.

Eventually the Dhamra port will be equipped to handle 85mt cargo capacity with 13 berths.

Tata Steel and L&T are contributing Rs 250 crore each as equity for the project, while the remaining Rs 1,900 crore will be raised as debt from eight banks led by IDBI.

The company will also build a 62km rail track from the port to Bhadrak, which will connect with the Howrah-Chennai trunk route. The company will require 2,200 acres for that, taking the total land requirement of the whole project to 3,100 acres.

Following is Sambada’s report on this.

The following is from a PIB release.

30 DRDAs in Orissa have been sanctioned grant-in-aid of Rs.34.23 crore as balance Payment of first instalment of Central Share of funds under Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana(SGSY) during the year 2007-2008 as per details given in the Annexure.

The amount should be utilized on the Programme as per approved guidelines of SGSY. The funding pattern will be 75:25 by the Centre and the State.

The State Government should release its share within one month of the date of release of the Central assistance.

Under SGSY, assistance is given to the poor family living below the poverty line for taking up self-employment. It actively promotes group approach by organising the rural poor into Self-Help Groups.