Goyal confident of $100 bn investment in green energy in 5 yrs
With about 300 firms committing investments in the green power space, Power Minister Piyush Goyal is confident that the country will receive over $100 billion in renewable energy sector over the next five years. “It is obvious that if they are investing in nearly 266 GW (2,66,000 MW) of energy there will be huge investments. The targetted $100 billion will certainly be exceeded,” he told reporters at the ongoing RE-Invest conference. An estimated Rs6 crore is needed to set up a 1 MW of solar capacity. Essel Group in a statement on Monday said it has committed Rs75,000 crore to generate 12,000 MW in the next five years.
Govt to infuse Rs870 crore in PNB
State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Monday said Government will infuse Rs870 crore into the lender by way of equity capital for the current fiscal. The bank will seek approval of the shareholders on March 19 for the same, PNB said in a filing to the BSE. The bank would issue over 4.42 crore shares at a price of Rs196.80 apiece to the government, raising Rs870 crore in the form of equity capital. The shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting would decide on the final issue price, it added. Government currently holds 58.87 per cent stake in PNB. Shares of PNB closed at 166.85, down 0.51 per cent over their previous close on the BSE. Earlier this month, the Government announced infusion of Rs6,990 crore in nine PSU banks. This included Rs870 crore for PNB.
Microsoft launches lumia 435, lumia 532
Microsoft on Monday launched two smartphones -- lumia 435 and lumia 532, priced at Rs5,999 and Rs6,499 respectively. The launch is part of Microsoft’s plan to strengthen its presence in the smartphone category after rebranding itself in the handset category following the purchase of handset division from telecom major Nokia. The lumia 435 smartphone is the first in the 400 series lumia platform and comes with the latest Windows 8.1 operating system, 2MP camera, eight GB memory, a company statement said. lumia 532 is equipped with 5MP camera, with 1GB RAM. Both the phones come with 30GB free OneDrive cloud storage offered by Microsoft and also with Micro SD slot with a storage capacity of upto 128GB.
IOC to invest Rs7,812 crore for expansion
Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s largest oil firm, on Monday said it will invest Rs7,812 crore in fuel quality upgradation projects at two key refineries as well as other expansion projects. The Board of state-owned company last week approved an investment of Rs1,843 crore in upgrading the 13.7 million tons Koyali refinery in Gujarat to produce Euro-IV complaint petrol an diesel. Another, Rs1,327 crore will be spent on similar fuel quality upgradation project at Barauni refinery in Bihar, IOC said. The Board on February 13 also approved “setting up of ethylene glycol project along with associated facilities at Paradip (in Odisha) at an estimated project cost of Rs3,752 crore,” IOC said. The project would help in consolidating the glycol business of IOC by producing low cost mon-ethylene glycol based on refinery gas.The Board approved Rs108 crore for carrying of detailed feasibility report of the project.