NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Iron ore production by privately owned miners in Karnataka will likely resume in July, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said on Tuesday, after what will have been a year’s hiatus due to a government and judicial crackdown on illegal operations.

Patel said initial production from the state would go to local steel mills, but a resumption of mining means the world’s third-biggest supplier of iron ore could hope to regain its $6 billion, 100 million tonnes average annual exports, mainly to China, in 2012/13.

“In two to three months mining should happen, I believe the problem will be resolved by July,” Patel told Reuters in an interview, adding exports from Karnataka should then follow. He did not give a timeframe for such shipments.

Last week, the Supreme Court allowed mining to restart in mines of more than 50 hectares in Karnataka after their environmental plans are approved, potentially bringing 4.5 million tonnes per year to local steel producers. The state-run NMDC was earlier allowed to mine 1 million tonnes of ore every month by the apex court.

The union government has struggled to shape a mining policy balancing the drive by miners for exports with the need to ensure future supply to domestic steelmakers, who are ramping up production to supply India’ economic expansion.

India’s steel industry is aiming to produce between 100 and 110 million tonnes by 2020, up from existing capacity of 70 million, a target that would require almost all of the country’s entire existing iron ore output.

Patel said India would continue to export iron ore until domestic steel companies adopted technology that would allow them to process ore fines.

NEW DELHI, April 24 (Reuters) – Iron ore production by privately owned miners in India’s Karnataka state will likely resume in July, the country’s mines minister said on Tuesday, after what will have been a year’s hiatus due to a government and judicial crackdown on illegal operations.

Dinsha Patel said initial production from the southern state would go to local steel mills, but a resumption of mining means the world’s third-biggest supplier of iron ore could hope to regain its $6 billion, 100 million tonnes average annual exports, mainly to China, in 2012/13.

“In two to three months mining should happen, I believe the problem will be resolved by July,” Patel told Reuters in an interview, adding exports from Karnataka should then follow. He did not give a timeframe for such shipments.

Last week, India’s top court allowed mining to restart in mines of more than 50 hectares in Karnataka after their environmental plans are approved, potentially bringing 4.5 million tonnes per year to local steel producers. The state-run NMDC was earlier allowed to mine 1 million tonnes of ore every month by the Supreme Court.

India’s government has struggled to shape a mining policy balancing the drive by miners for exports with the need to ensure future supply to domestic steelmakers, who are ramping up production to supply India’ economic expansion.

India’s steel industry is aiming to produce between 100 and 110 million tonnes by 2020, up from existing capacity of 70 million, a target that would require almost all of the country’s entire existing iron ore output.

Patel said India would continue to export iron ore until domestic steel companies adopted technology that would allow them to process ore fines.

NEW DELHI, April 17 (Reuters) – Coal India’s offer to pay a paltry penalty for missing supply obligations will not force the state-run monopoly to ramp up production quickly to meet burgeoning demand in energy-starved India, power producers said on Tuesday.

The world’s biggest coal miner has been ordered by the government, which owns 90 percent of Coal India, to sign contracts agreeing to supply at least 80 percent of the coal requirement of utilities that have been hobbled by scarce fuel.

The company’s board approved the proposal on Monday and offered to pay a penalty of 0.01 percent if it fell behind schedule.

“This is a task well begun, but only half done,” said A. Issac George, chief financial officer at GVK Power, referring to the supply contracts that were proposed after industry captains such as Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for an end to fuel shortage.

The penalty would apply only after three years and so changes almost nothing in the short term for many power plants, which have been running below capacity due to fuel shortage over the past year.

Hemmed in by regulatory hurdles and land acquisition problems, Coal India’s production has stagnated over the past three years and power companies were hoping a stringent penalty clause in the fuel supply pact would have goaded the company to take measures to boost output.

Coal India expects to raise its output to 464 million tonnes in 2012/13, after producing about 436 million tonnes in the fiscal year that ended in March – missing its scaled down target.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A European Union law that charges airlines for carbon emissions is “a deal-breaker” for global climate change talks, India’s environment minister said, hardening her stance on a scheme that has drawn fierce opposition from non-EU governments.

From January 1, all airlines using EU airports have come under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, prompting a volley of retaliatory threats, including of a possible trade war.

U.S. airlines have said they would grudgingly comply, but China has barred its carriers from participating unless they are given permission to do so.

India on Wednesday formally forbad its airlines from participating having earlier said it would boycott the scheme.

“For the environment ministry, for me, it is a deal-breaker because you simply cannot bring this into climate change discourse and disguise unilateral trade measures under climate change,” Jayanthi Natarajan said on Wednesday.

“I strongly believe that as far as climate change discussions are concerned, this is unacceptable.”

The minister leads India’s negotiations at global climate change talks. It was not immediately clear if her comments reflected government policy in India.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A European Union law that charges airlines for carbon emissions is “a deal-breaker” for global climate change talks, India’s environment minister said, hardening her stance on a scheme that has drawn fierce opposition from non-EU governments.

From January 1, all airlines using EU airports have come under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

U.S. airlines have said they would grudgingly comply, but China has barred its carriers from participating unless they are given permission to do so and India has said it would boycott the scheme.

“For the environment ministry, for me it is a deal-breaker because you simply cannot bring this into climate change discourse and disguise unilateral trade measures under climate change,” Jayanthi Natarajan said on Wednesday.

“I strongly believe that as far as climate change discussions are concerned, this is unacceptable.”

The minister leads India’s negotiations at global climate change talks. It was not immediately clear if her comments reflected government policy in India.

Any airline that does not comply faces fines of 100 euros ($128) for each metric tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for which they have not surrendered allowances. In the case of persistent offenders, the EU has the right to ban airlines from its airports.

NEW DELHI, April 3 (Reuters) – State-backed Coal India may have to pay power companies between 10 and 40 percent of the average cost of 20 percent and more shortfall in supplies under new guaranteed fuel pacts the government is forcing it to sign, ministry sou r ces said.

The world’s biggest coal miner, however, stands to gain equal levels of rewards even if it meets only 90 percent of its commitments under these pacts with power plants that are due to be commissioned by 2015 and generate 50,000 megawatts of power.

Coal India’s production has stagnated due to regulatory and infrastructure hurdles. In 2011/12, it missed even a scaled down output target, producing about 436 million tonnes. It now aims to produce 470 million tonnes in 2012/13.

The under-performance by the coal monopoly has worried Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, already struggling with a slowing economy, and he is now pushing the company to boost output which could help many power plants that are running below capacity.

“What is being proposed is if the company fails to provide less than 80 percent then it will be penalised in a graded manner,” said a senior source in the coal ministry on condition of anonymity as the proposals are still being finalised.

“Between 75 to 80 percent supply (of the contracted amount), it will be fined 10 percent of the average cost of the shortfall. For 70-75 percent of supply the penalty will be 20 percent and below 70 percent supply will attract a 40 percent penalty.”

Average domestic coal prices are 1,600-1,700 rupees ($31.76-33.74) per tonne and are anywhere between 40-70 percent below international spot prices as they are capped by the government which is keen to provide cheap electricity.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The government needs to boost tax revenues and cut expenditure to rein in a burgeoning fiscal deficit and help cool inflation pressures and bolster longer term growth, the government said in a survey on Thursday, a day before the annual budget.

New Delhi is expected to miss this fiscal year’s deficit target of 4.6 percent of GDP by a wide margin, and it faces a difficult task to cut a soaring subsidy bill and revive slowing growth.

A yawning fiscal shortfall is not only making credit dearer for private investment, it is also foiling the central bank’s efforts to control inflation.

The Reserve Bank of India left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, warning of resurgent inflation risks from surging crude oil prices, fiscal slippage and rupee depreciation.

(Read: RBI keeps interest rates unchanged, click here)

“While an expanded deficit can boost consumption and economic growth, this is medicine akin to antibiotics. It is very effective if properly used and in limited doses, but can cause harm if used over a prolonged period,” the economic survey by the finance ministry said.

It suggested an increase in tax rates to boost tax-to-GDP ratio to 13 percent by 2016/17 from 10.5 percent currently. It also favoured a cap on the fuel subsidy, which has already topped 536 billion rupees this year — more than double the target for 2011/12.

NEW DELHI, March 15 (Reuters) – India needs to boost tax revenues and cut expenditure to rein in a burgeoning fiscal deficit and help cool inflation pressures and bolster longer term growth, the government said in a survey on Thursday, a day before the annual budget.

New Delhi is expected to miss this fiscal year’s deficit target of 4.6 percent of GDP by a wide margin, and it faces a difficult task to cut a soaring subsidy bill and revive slowing growth.

A yawning fiscal shortfall is not only making credit dearer for private investment, it is also foiling the central bank’s efforts to control inflation.

The Reserve Bank of India left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, warning of resurgent inflation risks from surging crude oil prices, fiscal slippage and rupee depreciation.

“While an expanded deficit can boost consumption and economic growth, this is medicine akin to antibiotics. It is very effective if properly used and in limited doses, but can cause harm if used over a prolonged period,” the economic survey by the finance ministry said.

It suggested an increase in tax rates to boost tax-to-GDP ratio to 13 percent by 2016/17 from 10.5 percent currently. It also favoured a cap on the fuel subsidy, which has already topped 536 billion rupees ($10.7 billion) this year — more than double the target for 2011/12.

The recommendation comes at a time when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government is facing a political storm for raising railway passenger fares on Wednesday for the first time in eight years.

NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) – Shipping Corp of India , the country’s largest shipping company, is in talks with local insurance firms seeking cover for cargoes and vessels for imports from Iran, its chairman S. Hajara said on Wednesday, as fresh western sanctions loom.

“We haven’t heard from the government. We are talking to PSU (state-run) insurance companies. They (talks) are positive discussions,” Hajara told Reuters on the sidelines of a coal industry conference.

The European Union announced new sanctions in January which will mean a total ban on European insurers indemnifying ships that carry Iranian crude and oil products — either on term or spot basis — from July.

But Shipping Corp was forced to cancel an Iranian crude oil shipment last month because its European insurers refused to cover the spot deal, struck after Jan. 23 when the EU announced the plan for sanctions on the OPEC member.

Europe and the United States are enforcing tougher economic sanctions in the hope of isolating Iran and forcing it to halt its nuclear programme, which the West fears will be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran, the biggest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia and the world’s fifth largest oil exporter, says its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes.

Iran is India’s second-biggest supplier of oil after Saudi Arabia, with some $11 billion a year in shipments meeting about 12 percent of India’s crude import needs.

NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) – India could be the top buyer of Indonesian thermal coal next year even if the southeast Asian country introduces an export tax on its product, a slim majority of respondents in a spot poll of attendees at the Coaltrans conference in New Delhi said.

Prices could rise “moderately” as a result of any export tax on coal by Indonesia, according to 75 percent of the delegates who took part in the electronic vote on Wednesday.

About 58 percent of respondents said in 2013 India would be Indonesia’s biggest buyer of thermal coal even if the export tax was imposed. No details on number of voters was available.

The delegates who voted in the poll represented end-users, producers, traders, brokers, surveyors and shipping agents.

Indonesia, a major global producer of raw materials, said last year it would look to introduce export taxes for coal and base metals from 2012, as it tries to encourage more investment in its mining sector.

Coal demand in India, Asia’s third-largest economy, is set to jump to 980 million tonnes by 2017, but output in this period may only be 795 million tonnes, coal ministry figures say.

Output from state-run Coal India, which accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s production, should be 464 million tonnes in 2012/13 and about 440 million tonnes in 2011/12 — suggesting there will continue to be a substantial gap to be filled by imports.