Centre to seek Parliament's nod for additional Rs 37,000 cr infra push

 Centre will seek the Parliament's approval for additional spending of Rs 37,000 crore on infrastructure development in the second batch of supplementary demands for grant.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier in the month announced that Centre's capital expenditure budget for current fiscal has been increased by an additional Rs 25,000 crore from a level of Rs 4,13,000 crore provided for FY21.

Further, the Union government has also approved issuance of a special interest-free 50-year loan to states of Rs 12,000 crore for infrastructure development.

According to people in the know, the approval for these additional expenditure for infrastructure push will be sought from the Parliament through the second batch of supplementary demands for grants.

The second batch of supplementary demands for grants is generally presented during the winter session of Parliament.

Infrastructure players ask govt to bring captive renewable energy policy

Infrastructure sector on Friday urged the government to bring captive renewable policy and exempt from cross subsidy and transmission charges to make renewable energy more viable for those willing to set up clean energy plants beyond factory boundaries.

The infrastructure companies raised these issues during a pre-budget consultation with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and top officials from finance, new & renewable, road transport and environment ministries. They also asked to make finance available for real estate and affordable housing to boost consumption of cement and other inputs like steel.

Besides, they were of the view that government should release stuck up funds meant for infrastructure sectors as soon as possible for bringing in buoyancy in the economy. “We asked government to see, how can finance be made available for real estate and affordable housing. We also asked to release funds withheld at different levels in the government,” Dalmia Bharat Cement MD & CEO Mahendra Singhi said.

“Cement and other Core infrastructure sector can do a lot of work toward renewable energy. But the deterrents are cross subsidy and transmission charges. These two charges made renewable energy even more expensive than thermal power,” Dalmia Bharat Cement MD & CEO Mahendra Singhi said after the meeting.

The infrastructure players have asked the government to bring captive renewable energy policy and give exemption from cross subsidy and transmission charges for clean energy plants beyond factory boundaries.

India to spend $1.4 trn over 5 years on infrastructure development: Pradhan

India will spend about $1.4 trillion on its infrastructure development in the next five years, Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday.

Pradhan was speaking at the Global Forum on Excess Capacity (GFEC) Tokyo which was attended by representatives several other countries.

"I wish to emphasize that with rapid economic and infrastructural development in India, the demand of steel has seen substantial increase and is expected to increase further in the future as embarks to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024," he said while addressing the forum.

He said that the country is committed to spending about $1.4 trillion on its infrastructure development in the next five years.

All this, Pradhan said, augurs well for the steel demand in the country.

India is determined to raise the per capita consumption of steel from its current low of 72 kg per capita to 160 kg per capita by 2030, he informed.

Pradhan is on a two-day visit to Japan.

The minister met senior management of Japanese steel majors JFE Steel Corporation, Nippon Steel and Daido Steel on Friday and invited them to invest in the growing Indian steel sector.