Friday 29 April 2016

MSTC signs MoU with Mahindra Intertrade to set up India’s first auto shredding facility



In presence of Hon'ble Minister of Steel & Mines Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Secretary of Steel, Smt Aruna Sundararajan, IAS , Mahindra Intertrade MD Shri Sumit Issar and MSTC CMD Shri S K Tripathi signed MoU on 28th April, 2016 at New Delhi.



The Financial Express, New Delhi, 29th April, 2016, Friday
The Indian Express, New Delhi, 29th April, 2016, Friday


Mahindra Intertrade signs MoU with MSTC to set up India’s first auto shredding facility

KOLKATA: Mahindra Intertrade has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MSTC Ltd for a joint initiative to set up India's first auto shredding facility. The proposed facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art, fully automated end-of-life vehicle recycling equipment and will be India's first such facility. This is expected to facilitate recycling of scrapped automobiles. 
Speaking on the occasion, S K Tripathi, Chairman & Managing Director, MSTC Ltd. said, "MSTC is always looking at innovative ways to recycle scrap and protect the environment and this facility will help to participate in the emission targets which India has promised to fulfill via the COP 21 Emission Treaty." 

So far, auto-shredding in India has been largely an unorganized activity with vehicles long past their usable life still in use, especially in rural and semi-urban India. 
"The concept of vehicle scrappage is still new to India as compared to the West where it is a lucrative industry. Recycling, if done correctly, is not only environment friendly but will also help keep older vehicles off the streets," said Zhooben Bhiwandiwala, Managing Partner, Mahindra Partners.  

According to Sumit Issar, Managing Director, Mahindra Intertrade Ltd., "Our study indicated that recycling not only saves energy costs but also minimizes the need for other resources as every tonne of new steel manufactured from scrap steel saves a substantial amount of iron ore, coal and limestone. Moreover, if India focuses on scrapping old automobiles, it can recover significant amounts of steel scrap, aluminium scrap, plastic and rubber. Hence, there is a pressing need for facilities such a s this one." 


The Economic Times , Kolkata, 29th April, 2016, Friday

Mahindra Intertrade, MSTC to set up auto shredding unit

New Delhi: Mahindra Intertrade, part of the Mahindra Group, on Thursday partnered with state-run MSTC to set up an automobile shredding facility. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the company and MSTC, Mahindra Intertrade said in a statement. 

The proposed facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art, fully automated end-of-life vehicle recycling equipment and will be India's first such facility, it added. MSTC CMD S K Tripathi said: "MSTC is always looking at innovative ways to recycle scrap and protect the environment and this facility will help to participate in the emission targets which India has promised to fulfil via the COP 21 Emission Treaty." 


Mahindra Intertrade MD Sumit Issar said recycling not only saves energy costs but also minimises the need for other resources as every tonne of new steel manufactured from scrap steel saves substantial iron ore, coal and limestone. 




Millenium Post , New Delhi, 29th April, 2016, Friday

Wednesday 27 April 2016

Govt converts 'fund drying' subsidies to money-spinners
MSTC helps Govt make huge gains in RLNG e-reverse bidding for gas-based power plants


New Delhi: In February 2015, Ministry of Power introduced an e-Bidding scheme to identify Stranded Gas Based Power Plants for disbursement of a subsidy from Power Sector Development Fund (PSDF) amounting to INR 7500 crore spread over two years. MSTC Limited was entrusted by the government to design and develop an e-Reverse Bidding solution which could identify potential gas based power plants which could produce maximum electricity by using minimum amount of gas subsidy and sell the same at lowest tariffs. 
Since then the subsidy has turned into the earning proposition for the government, as of 1st January 2015 India had 27,123 mw of grid connected power generation capacity utilising Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG). Of this 9845 mw was working at a Sub-optimal level due to sharp decline in availability of natural gas and the rest 14305 mw was non-operational and the power plants were on the verge of becoming NPAs. 
MSTC along with officials from Ministry of Power and GAIL (e-Bid Operator) designed a two stage system, where in the first stage bidders were only allowed to quote incremental units of electricity which they would produce from the subsidised natural gas. 
In the second stage the bidders would have to quote on PSDF support in INR/unit of gas reducing the amount with each subsequent bid so as to identify bidders which can produce maximum amount of electricity using minimum subsidy. 
The system was the first of its kind in the world where subsidy allocation to intending parties was done on the basis of maximum gains a subsidy scheme could generate for the bidder, who in turn would produce electricity for the country.
The first phase of e-Bidding was conducted on May 12 in the year 2015 where 8.3 million units of gas were allocated at a 35% Plant Load Factor thus resulting in 1946.92 mw additional electricity generation, while in the second phase 12.23 million units of gas were allocated at 50% PLF, resulting in 2840 mw of additional power. 

During the first two phases, subsidy worth Rs 2850 crore out of the earmarked amount of Rs 3500 crore was disbursed to the successful bidders. Subsidy of Rs 1600 crore was earmarked for the third phase for which reverse bidding was conducted on March 20 in the year 2016. 
The third phase of bidding produced the most startling and unexpected results. During the bidding governmental support required reached INR 0/unit (Zero subsidy requirements). 

This was an entirely unexpected outcome as Stranded Gas based power plants themselves bid the support requirement as zero.
Within a week the e-Bidding solution was modified, the ceiling price for the reverse auction was kept at zero PSDF support per unit of electricity to be generated and the winning bids ranged between negative values of 2 paisa to 3 paisa per unit of electricity to be generated. Thus, the revenue for the Union Government increased by about Rs 18.28 crore against a projected expenditure of Rs 1600.00 crore for phase-III. 

The successful bidders also committed to generate 1546 mw of power for the country while paying to PSDF instead of seeking PSDF support. Indeed a windfall gain for the government.
As of today, from the government support which was planned at INR 7500 crore, only INR 2712 crore has been used and government would now earn INR 18 crore as revenue. 

This project now stands as a landmark towards Government’s aim of ‘Digital India’ where subsidies can be minimised slowly with the aid of technology and industries can be made profitable by introducing and supporting a competitive environment. 
MSTC is committed to evolve unique solutions for the government and fulfilling its intentions of e-Assuring India and promoting transparency and fairness in government transactions.

Millennium Post, New Delhi, Wednesday, 27th April 2016

Friday 22 April 2016

Auctioning of seized vehicles begins

The Revenue Department has started auctioning rusted vehicles which were seized in connection with various illegal sand-mining and other cases reported from the district.

The vehicles currently dumped in the compound of various government offices and police stations will be cleared by a Sub Collector specially assigned by District Collector N. Prasanth.

Around 98 vehicles were auctioned with the support of the Central government firm- MSTC Limited on Tuesday. JK Iron and Steel Company won the auction and cleared the stock auctioned in the first phase.

According to officials, Rs.46.49 lakh was mobilised through the first phase of auctioning. The remaining vehicles too will be cleared soon, they added.



The Hindu, Kozhikode, 21st April ,2016 ,Thursday.

Thursday 21 April 2016

MoU signed between MSTC and Director General of Hydrocarbons


MSTC Ltd GM D P Bahuguna and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons DGM (P) Tinku S Nischal 
exchanging papers after signing an MoU for developing a national portal for e-bidding for 
Discovered Small Oil and Gas Fields

Millenium Post, New Delhi, Wednesday, 20th April, 2016

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Discoms to launch e-bid portal for power procurement
However, industry experts caution availability of transmission needs to be factored in for such deals


The central government’s move to launch an e-bid portal, through which power distribution companies (discoms) can procure electricity for the short-term, will bring down transaction costs and attract more participants to the sector, say experts. Through the portal, to be launched on Tuesday, discoms can procure power for one day to a year. The portal will be managed by MSTC Ltd.
Union power minister Piyush Goyal is slated to meet power secretaries of all states on Tuesday for a review, where the e-bid portal and the document for the government’s Power For All scheme will likely be released. Managing directors of all discoms will also participate through video-conferencing.

“Bilateral trade constitutes half the entire short-term market in volume. But, over the years, its prices have remained 25-30 per cent higher than the exchange prices. The platform will offer more transparency and standardisation can lower transaction costs and attract more participants,” said Kameswara Rao, partner (grid) at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

According to him, improving transparency is desirable but actual tariff reduction might be modest. This is because, unlike on the exchange, bilateral procurement is more tailored to local needs, and suppliers offer credit. Also, one-third of bilateral trade is between state-owned discoms, where pricing is less elastic. According to a recent report by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, of the total electricity generation, 9,215 million units (MUs), or 10 per cent, was transacted through the short-term market. This comprised 4,700 MUs through bilateral trade (through traders and term-ahead contracts on power exchanges and directly between distribution companies), followed by 2,863 MUs through day-ahead collective transactions on power exchanges, and 1,652 MUs through the deviation settlement mechanism (DSM).

Of the total short-term transactions, bilateral procurement constitutes 51 per cent (36.53 per cent through traders and term-ahead contracts on power exchanges and 14.47 per cent directly between distribution companies), followed by 31.07 per cent through day-ahead collective transactions on power exchanges and 17.92 per cent through DSM. A Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company official said discoms would now able to get real-time information about producers and suppliers. “The e-bid portal will also help discoms to strike a deal at the competitive rate.”

Debasish Mishra, consulting partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, said short-term purchases by discoms are usually mutually negotiated with suppliers, within a price cap pre-approved by the state electricity regulatory commission. “This is a welcome move to bring in transparency in procurement of short-term power. This makes the entire power procurement – day-ahead, short-term, medium-term, and long-term – transparent and competitive.”

Mishra, however, cautioned that transmission availability has to be factored in while defining eligible sources that can participate in these bids.

Business Standard, 12th April 2016, Tuesday, Kolkata