India, the world’s third-largest buyer of overseas coal, may be able to stop imports of power-generating thermal coal in the next three years as state-run Coal India (CIL) steps up production, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has asked Coal India, the world’s largest miner of the fuel, to more than double its output to 1 billion tonnes by 2019 to feed existing and upcoming power plants.

Modi has promised round-the-clock power to all Indians by 2022 and recently announced the nationalised coal industry would be opened up to allow private firms to compete with Coal India, which accounts for 80 percent of the country’s output.

Declining shipments to country would drag on global coal markets grappling with oversupply as top consumer and importer China tries to shift towards cleaner fuels.

“I’m very confident of achieving these targets and am very confident that India’s current account deficit (CAD) will not be burdened with the amount of money we lose for imports of coal,” Goyal told a conference.

“Possibly in the next two or three years we should be able to stop imports of thermal coal.”

Coal generates three-fifths of India’s power, but a shortage of the fuel means millions still go without electricity and power cuts are common.

Around 60 of country’s 103 power plants had enough coal for less than a week’s usage as of November 2 due to lower supplies from Coal India.

Imports of coal have been surging as a result, equating to about 1 per cent of country’s economy.

Shipments rose to 168.4 million tonnes last fiscal year, and the government estimated earlier this year that the domestic shortage would range between 185 and 265 million tonnes by 2016/17.

And some analysts were sceptical the country would be able to end imports soon.

“India’s reliance on imports is not going away anytime soon,” said Prakash Duvvuri, head of research at consultancy OreTeam.

“Obviously coal demand will continue to mean imports are needed in India.”

(Reuters)

Aiming to make India self-sufficient in coal, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal today said the target of doubling domestic production from the current 490 million tonnes level was “possible”. He even went a step further and said the country should make efforts to become an exporter of coal by drawing up a clear roadmap for the same. “We have plans to ramp up coal production to a billion tonnes from its current level of 490 million tonnes (MT). It is clearly doable, it is not a fanciful target, they have 200 mines which have not yet opened up, technological innovations can make it possible,” Goyal said.

Out of the total domestic coal production of 565 MT, Coal India produces 490 MT. This is targeted to be doubled to one billion tonnes annually by 2019. The state-run firm will invest Rs 5,000 crore to buy 250 rakes for transporting coal. The minister said India should not remain an importer of thermal coal for power plants but on the contrary should be in a position to supply to the world and increase its own power generation capacity significantly.

Goyal said this after meeting global investors where he assured them that the government will address their concerns. “The investors have had serious concerns in the last 4-5 years like stalled projects, rupee depreciation and uncertain business environment,” he said. However, with the new government in place this has started to change. They are looking at India afresh and going forward the investments in the power sector are going to be quite large and investors both from within India and abroad can see good, robust policy which we are reassuring to all the investors, he added.

Coal & Power Minister- Piyush Goyal in a candid interview to Zee Biz Dy Editor Amish Devgan.

Q1. Sir, the Modi government has completed its 100 days in power. My first and foremost question to you is what do you think are the three major achievements of your ministry during these 100 days?

Answer: I think the most important transformation has been under the aegis of PM Modi and first time in the history of this country the government is functioning as an “organic entity” especially in three ministries that function under my governance. I would like to give an example: Recently, during a meet, Power Secretary had proposed that the cess on coal be increased by 100 percent so that the money can be utilized for renewable energy and we agreed on the same immediately. So, this way when the government functions in synchronization, the policies see the implementation at a greater pace.

Secondly, instead of resolving individual cases or issues we are focusing on policy driven governance which can ultimately benefit common man and thirdly, the power generation from coal in the month of June, July and August has risen by 21.6 percent when compared with the corresponding period in 2013. As you are aware, monsoon had played a spoilt-sport this year hence the power generation through hydel was apparently low. Had we not generated the power using coal, the situation of power in these three months would have been terrible. This is the reason why situation of power generation in the country is stable today.

Q2. PM’s office, Coal ministry and Power ministry has been under fire since the time you have taken over. Sometimes, for the wrong reasons like Coal scams and power scarcity too. Do you believe that you have been able to meet people’s sky rocketing expectations from your government?

Answer: Indeed! We are accountable for every work and we are working day in and day out so as to accomplish out target of 24/7 power to every citizen of this country. The people of this country had given 3650 days to the earlier government; we have not even reached 1/4th of that time period. Jan-Dhan yojna announced recently, separate toilet for girls and boys and our thrust on renewable energy; all these achievements in this short tenure of 100 days, I think is commendable in addition to rationalizing the linkages, technology upgradation in coal sector, improvement in railways sector. Moreover, we have taken a 360 degree view on every ministry.

Q3. Sir, during these 100 days your ministry has been making the headlines. What do you is the reason for the same?

Answer: That is because my ministry is one of the most challenging ministry. Moreover, the responsibility of lighting up the entire country now rests on my shoulders and hence people have great expectations from me. Also, I am enthralled with the level of trust that respected PM has shown in me.

Q4. Zee media had quite recently conducted a mega-survey on the performance of Modi government in 100 days wherein you received 70 percent marks in terms of public satisfaction. Will you be able to maintain the same?

Answer: Indeed,the way our government is functioning, the way ministries are functioning in tandem, in complete synchronization with each other, we are confident that we will not only fullfill but exceed the expectations of the people of this country.

Q5. Sir, let me ask you about some recent controversies. Recently PM Modi had inaugurated of lot of projects in various states. However, the opposition (although they have not been assigned the status of LoP), I mean Congress, asserts that a majority of these projects, power projects were initiated by their party and the BJP is simply giving them green signals or more specifically organizing the ribbon cutting ceremony. Moreover, they give the credit of growth in GDP too, to their party.

Answer: See, a government functions in continuity and let me clarify that a majority of these policies were contemplated during the reign of Vajpayee government. The projects which have been inaugurated in J&K by the honourable PM, as I mentioned earlier, were started during the time of Vajpayee government. The thermal power plant in Karampura was initiated by the Vajpayee government. Let me assert, in the last 10 years not even a single project has been undertaken in Karampura. Let me reiterate; the people of this country are watching the pace with which the Modi government is taking decisions and implementing them. If you are referring to the ‘Jan-Dhan Yojna’, let me tell you that this is an original idea and never existed prior to this in this country. I would rather say that had constructive work been done in last 10 years, 30 crore people of this country would’t have been left without the basic amenity of power, a basic bank account let alone the high rate of unemployment. FII’s have started pooling in great deal of money all because they could foresee the thumping victory of BJP govt.

Q6. You must have heard Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s statement wherein he quoted PM Modi playing drum in Japan whereas the people are starving in India.

Answer: When PM goes for a foreign visit, he represents a country and not the party. 2 lakh 10 thousand crore worth of investments have been committed to us in the next 5 years in addition to the latest technology implementations. So, I can simply laugh off at such crudeness and sarcasm made by the people in opposition.

Q7. Scarcity of electricity is still a major issue in this country. Uttar pradesh is indeed the worst affected and situation in Maharashtra too is grim. Even PM has on various occasions stated that the Coal scam is responsible for this crisis. What are your views on the same?

Answer: As I mentioned earlier, had we not increased the production of coal by 21 percent, the situation in the country would have been worse. With the advent of Modi government the situation in India today is far better. In U.P, the state government used to purchase the power amounting to 377 megawatt till 15th May which stopped on 16th May. On 30th May due to some technical fault the production came to a halt and that is when the state government felt the breeze and resorted to casting aspersions on us. That is when I had to present the facts before the nation, the same day that 377 megawatt was procured by the government.

Q8. Will you meet the minister after state elections?

Answer: Of course. I received a phone call from Mr, Akhilesh Yadav and we discussed on this entire issue amicably. So, I believe that the matter will be resolved soon.

Q9. Sir, your leadership is being questioned. Do you have any major issues with Maharashtra CM Mr Chavhan, as the news is doing the rounds lately?

Answer: He is a very senior leader. I would not like to make any personal comments. The main problem before the nation is related to the coal scam. The nation would question his leadership during his tenure in the centre. A day before Ganesh Chaturthi, PM Modi had received a call from Maharashtra’s CM which I returned immediately to discuss the matter and resolve the matter. In the meeting with Mr. CM, I found that the State government simply wants to pass on the burden to the Centre without taking any note of the situation. I immediately called a meeting of Power Secretaries in Delhi and tried to find solutions with all the five major states facing the problem. Problem actually lies on the disagreement between the private power plants and the state governments and not at the level of the centre and the matter is still in the Supreme court.

Q10. Sir, you had earlier referred to the Coal scam. Mr. Chavhan was earlier the minister in Prime Minister’s Office. Your ministry has time and again said those involved in the Coal scam would not be spared. Do you really feel that the existing scarcity of power has its roots in the Coal scam?

Answer: I have given a small booklet stating the achievement of our government in 100 days to all my officials. I have made a special mention of the legacy that I have inherited from the previous government. If I talk of coal production since 2011, it has only grown at the rate of 1.5 percent CAGR per year making it a total of 4 percent in last 4 years. The generating capacity of coal has increased by 73 percent now. Hence, the scarcity of coal is apparently resulting in the shortage of power. I would like to reiterate all the factors like coal allocation scam, environment policies of the previous government, SEPI plan, environment road blocks which are responsible for power situation in the country today.

Q 11. SC in its verdict has said that all coal blocks between 1993 and 2010 are illegal but at the same time govt appointed Attorney General has appealed to the court to give respite to at least 46 coal blocks?

Answer: I would like to assert that have clearly specified through the medium of Attorney General that we have completed faith in court’s verdict. We have never resorted to such measures. However, when the matter was raised in the court that crores of rupees in investment is held up in these coal blocks, then our Attorney General stated that in no way wish to question the court’s verdict. However, we will try to resolve the matter from the perspective of the banks. 40 blocks are operation at present with a production count of 37 million tonne and this year it is 52 million tonnes,we had simply brought this to court’s notice and in no way tried to influence the court’s verdict.

Q12. Sir, do’t you think this if some blocks do get some respite, it will set a wrong precedence, if one do refer to the 2G case?

Answer: I would not like to comment on the court’s verdict. He have full faith in the the judiciary.

Q13. Zee media’s DNA has unearthed lot of issues. Your govt is presently in power. What are view regarding the disclosure on CBI’s Director Mr. Sinha meetings?

Answer: I believe investigative agencies should be run in an autonomous manner and there should’t be any interference from the government’s side. SC will take the final decision.

Q14. We have made revelations regarding CBI Director Mr. Sinha’s meetings with Moin Quereshi, ADAG Group and Vijar Darda too.

Answer: CBI is an autonomous body. I would not like to comment on these matters. SC will take the final decision.

Q15. What is the biggest challenge that you think you have faced in these 100 days? If I talk of Rajnath Singh’s controversy, there were rumours that a minister from your ministry has leaked these matters. Do do believe this is unfortunate?

Answer: I believe all these news are completely baseless. I believe these is no substance to this news.

Q16. Sir, finally the biggest challenge before your ministry.

Answer: We are in power with complete majority. We will lead this nation to becoming a super power.

Q17. In Bihar state elections, BJP lost terribly, due to Lalu and Nitinsh alliance. There are rumours that such an experiment can be repeated in Maharashtra and Haryana?

Answer: By-polls have there own local issues. So there are certain internal dynamics of each state. We are not at all worried and we will register a majority win yet again.

Q18. In the last few months, major projects have been undertaken in the states where elections are imminent.

Answer: This is not true. It was just that the projects in these states were nearing completion.

Q 19. Sir, your government has been witness to the entire history of coal scam. There have been several kinds of verbal attacks on your government on the notion that such scams are biggest impediment to a positive business environment in the country. How would you like to assure the people of this country that such scams do not bring shame to the nation in future?

Answer: I have also mentioned this earlier on your channel too. I would like to reinstate that we have complete faith in the judiciary. Our government functions with complete transparency and we consider the Supreme Court’s decision as final and do not believe in any kind of interference in legal matters. The government has’t made any appeal regarding any of the coal blocks and we will consider Supreme Court’s verdict as the final verdict.

Sir, I am really very amused and amazed to see the competitive Socialism in the House today, and the enthusiasm amongst all Members to try and show themselves more Left than, possibly, even the Left today. But the biggest amusement was when my colleague, who, of course, has left, Mr. K.C. Tyagi, was speaking and he called us the Swadeshi Jagran Manch people. I am very proud to be associated with the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, and I have no hesitation in saying that I believe that India should be self-reliant, that we Indians should be proud of our heritage and if at all he believes that as Swadeshi Jagran Manch, he can pass comments on us, I think, it only makes us feel more proud today. Of course, I am also very conscious of the fact that Mr. Tyagi does not travel by rail gaadi and he does not even travel by ordinary cars. He uses good cars which are made by modern technologies that have come to India. He travels by air when he goes to the State of Bihar which, today, is deprived of all development, probably, because of the kind of thinking that he brings to the table which, of course, the people of India have outrightly rejected in the last election, and that is evident. But the fact of the matter is that what Shri Balagopal has raised does evoke a lot of sympathy and a lot of interest in the common man because there are certain anomalies that have come into the system. Fact of the matter is that PPP has become the vehicle to take India, out of an under-developed and a backward country that it was once upon a time called, to a progressive country and to a country which is, today, the pride of the world.

Sir, we started on the path of Socialism after Independence, probably because it was appropriate for the times then. But then we saw an era of nationalization of banks, mines, etc. The people of India thought that better times would come for them. But over a period of time, what did we see? We saw that the Government ran telecom, railways, airlines, even hotels and housing projects with DDA-type companies, power, coal, water, etc. Almost every aspect of common man’s life was run by the Government. And what was the quality of service that we were giving to the people of India? Did they get good quality water in adequate quantity? Did this country generate enough power plants or enough power capacity for the teeming millions and billion people? Did we, actually, give housing to people or did we take them into slums and, more often than not, homelessness? Did we create sanitation? Did we give them good quality of rail service? Did the Airlines perform any better as a monopoly of the Government or did it do better when there was more competition in the market? I think the country today is yearning for better quality of service at more competitive prices. It is unfortunate that a section of society believes that just because something is done by the private sector, it, necessarily, has to be bad or it, necessarily, has to be crony-capitalism. The reality shows that there have been instances which have reaped out of corruption, which have reaped out of the misuse of PPP models but, more often than not, it has happened because of political corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency and, maybe, at times, also because of complacency or involvement of the private sector. But just to castigate a good programme because there were certain inefficiencies in the programme, I think, will be throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Today we have a land where we get telecom. This is the cheapest in the world, and in the same telecom sector we have Government companies which are languishing with losses. We have airlines which have given good service, but we have an airline which all of us resolve every year to fund another five to six thousand crores and are given Rs. 30,000 crores of tax payers’ money. We have so many inefficiencies coming into the system whether it is in coal production, whether it is in the area of state-run discoms. Not to say that the other side is necessarily the best but we will have to find solutions to the problem, not just criticize the programmes that are going on. The fact of the matter is, Sir, post liberalisation the country has seen large investments coming into good quality of services, costs have come down in a variety of sectors. I would like to quote an example of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Typically, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway would have, probably, taken years and years to construct a huge cost overrun. An honest Government constructed that well within PWD estimates, in fact, saved Rs. 200 crores out of the Rs. 1,800 crores, constructed it in time and had 15 years after it was completed. Even today it was one of the finest highways of India, done by the public sector, done by the Government. But under an honest leader, under an honest

Government it could be done efficiently. And at the same time, we have dishonest Governments which have probably indulged in massive corruption. Being sub judice, I will not go into those details.

But whether it is the telecom sector or whether it is the coal mining sector, we have seen problems in the highways programme. But I don’t think those problems emerge necessarily because the mode is public, private or joint. It emerged because of political corruption; it emerged because of laxity of the bureaucrats.

I think the better solution for all of us is to focus on what Mr. Balagopal has rightly said, we need to have strengthened regulatory mechanisms. We need to have strict monitoring of allocation of natural resources. We certainly need to do improvements in the system, but if we kill the PPP mode, if we bring in over-controls, if we bring in too much of Government interference, I think we will be doing disservice to the people of India, who are looking for a better quality of their lives, who are also looking at more affordability, which unfortunately, the public sector by itself has failed to give to the people of India.

This I am saying as a Member of the House because I passionately believe that we have to evolve more and more public-private joint partnership and, as Mr. Narendra Modi says, we have to bring the people also into that and I would urge upon Mr. Balagopal, Mr. Rajeev and Mr. Tyagi to participate in this movement, bring in probity. Otherwise, the nation will be left with States like Bihar and with States like West Bengal which for a large part was run by his own party, which has remained over the years deprived of the benefits of liberalization, probably on development.

Eyeing a quick-fix to blackouts, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal today said the government is working on innovative methods that can help more than double electricity generation to 2 trillion units without raising tariffs.

India faced a peak power shortfall of 6,103 megawatts, or 4.5 per cent of the requirement of 1,35,918 MW last fiscal, he said, adding that rationalising fuel linkages and sorting out transmission and distribution issues can solve the problem. In an interview to PTI, Goyal said the demand for power is legitimate and good quality electricity at reasonable prices should be made available to the end consumer.

“We did about 900 billion units last year and we can do at least 2 trillion units of power generation with existing assets commissioned or soon to be commissioned,” he said.

The doubling of power generation can be done without burdening the consumer with a higher electricity tariff. Goyal, who took charge of the ministries a month ago, said, “Ya, I am quite sure,” when asked whether this is possible without hiking electricity charges. Supply of coal, the fuel most used to generate electricity, needs to be rationalised by allocating it to power plants from the nearest source, he said.

For example, a power plant in Gujarat that ferries coal by rail from Chattisgarh can swap its allocation with NTPC, which depends on imported coal that is shipped through a port in Gujarat. Similarly, to solve coal quality issues facing power plants, crushing units can be set up at every mine that will ensure no boulders go to electricity stations, he said, adding that orders have been issued for installing crushers at every mine by the end of this year.

“Our focus is sorting out fuel supply issues, focusing investments in transmission and distribution, power supply to agriculture sector,” the minister said. “The bottlenecks can be clearly identified — if you ask me, the biggest one is to think a little out of the box.”

Source: The Economic Times

Piyush Goyal, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national treasurer and a confidant of Narendra Modi, said the poll scene will alter significantly once prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi steps up his campaign. Opinion polls only reflect the current mood, he said in an interview with Ullekh NP. Goyal, who works closely with Modi on the BJP’s economic agenda, also took on those who said that the candidate’s recent speech outlining his vision for India was old wine in a new bottle. He also said that the BJP was wholly opposed to foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. Edited excerpts:

Various opinion polls suggest that the BJP will emerge as the singlelargest party in the 2014 general election. However, the National Democratic Alliance (led by the BJP) will not have an absolute majority according to these polls. Are you anxious?

Not at all. These opinion polls reflect the current mood which is destined to change drastically in many states once Modi starts campaigning. He has so far done only one rally in Maharashtra. There are many states that he has’t really covered so far. His campaign, once it is completed over the next few months, will ensure that the NDA wins more than 272 seats very comfortably. Wait and watch. It could even be a landslide.

Are you taking stock of the threat from the Aam Admi Party (AAP)?
AAP is anarchic to the core and voters of this country are wise and they will reject that new party. Besides, you may have noticed that AAP is expected to eat into the Congress’s vote base, not ours.

Are you aware of the criticism that came after Modi’s speech that his vision of India is more or less old wine in a new bottle?
Modi does not believe in making promises and then failing. In Gujarat, he has succeeded in every plan without cost and time overruns. Power for all by 2012 was a promise made by the Congress and they failed. They had targets on coal production, and they failed, again. In containing inflation, they failed. They have miserably failed to meet targets in infrastructure development, from roads to building safety systems for railways. Modi, on the other hand, completely believes that all plans have to be outcome-driven. In fact, the success of the Sabarmati waterfront project is proof of his abilities in executing projects.

How well thought out were the plans he talked about at the national council meet?
Nothing was hypothetical. For each plan, he has a clear blueprint. He also has a clear funding pattern. Building mega cities – which Modiji referred to – is a project conceived when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power. Do’t forget that the NDA has a history of coming up with such massive projects. Our idea of SEZs, for instance, was large economic zones that were meant to become export hubs, tourist hubs, etc. What the NDA envisaged were unique identity zones, like smart cities. Those were largeformat cities where you could have a population of 1 or 2 million. We wanted them to be modern cities that would become growth engines for the Indian economy.

Remember, in the Vajpayee regime, we approved only two SEZs. Unfortunately, after 2004, everything under the UPA became an exercise in corruption. The UPA regime thought that this was a scheme (SEZ programme) to oblige friends and relatives. They approved 600-plus SEZs all over the country. They vulgarised the concept so badly that you could have a 25-acre SEZ as opposed to the large-format ones that were planned earlier. They were, by definition, special economic zones, not special economic buildings. The UPA made a joke of this plan. Under the Congress, those projects became real-estate loot.

A country that had made sovereign promises – that these SEZs will get certain tax benefits – reneged on them. So, first the UPA misused the policy, then killed it, and the whole world was laughing at India. So plans are all good and may be similar, but it is execution that counts. And Modi is committed to doing that.

How will a national gas grid proposed by Modi be of help to people in the countryside?

Gujarat has created a gas pipeline grid. Instead of troubling the people with a cap on LPG cylinders they can use, we believe every town can be connected through a gas grid. And then we will use gas cylinders in the villages at subsidised rates. Our villagers who are poor will no longer have to burn kerosene and ruin their health. So LPG factories wo’t close down, and LPG manpower wo’t go waste. Therefore, plans, for Modi, are to be implemented not slept over. 

What are the advantages of proper implementation of the price stabilisation fund announced by Modi?
See, there was an onion crisis here. It was not that our onion production had gone down. In fact, it had gone up. Yet prices shot up to Rs100. Maharashtra (which is led by Congress-NCP) was the culprit. NCP did not allow Congress to interfere in this. Now, what would a Modi government do in such a situation? He would have immediately procured onions from anywhere in the world using the price stabilisation fund. The mere announcement would have made hoarders bring out all the onions into the market.

What will the BJP’s poll manifesto say about FDI?
I cannot fully answer that question, but we are out and out against FDI in multi-brand retail which will hurt small traders. In fact, the manifesto will spell out specific plans to improve ties between the government and small businessmen, small retailers and traders to make their lives easier. Also, wherever FDI is permitted, easier clearance mechanisms will be evolved to make the bureaucratic process much less cumbersome, especially in sectors that give a boboost to Indian manufacturing.

Source: This article is sourced fro Economic Times