Coal Deaths in India India gets more than 50% of its energy requirements from coal, of which the country has got billions of tons in reserves. Coal is used for most of the power generation in the country despite its pernicious effects on human health and the environment. Coal is responsible not only for thousands […]
ONGC Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited or ONGC as it is known commonly is Indian state-owned oil and Gas Company. ONGC produces around 77% of India’s total crude oil production and 81% of natural gas production. ONGC is one of the largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization in India and the largest India-based […]
Illegal Mining and Environmental Degradation has been a major problem in India with corruption spread across the political and business spectrum. Millions of tons of iron ore have been mined illegally in major ore producing states such as Karnataka, Orissa and Goa. Some of the mining barons have made billions of dollars in illicit profits. […]
State owned Indian companies have trodden over minority shareholder rights for a long time now. Ever since these companies were listed, minority shareholders have been getting the short end of the stick as these firms are run more by Government diktat and priorities, rather than being run with a profit motive. The big oil and […]
However India’s biggest capital good equipment company BHEL owned by the government is plannning a $500 million investment to build a solar cell factory in at Sakoli which is part Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel’s constituency Bhandara.Talk about how dumb you can get. BHEL hardly has too much expertise in the solar panel industry and with solar cells in massive oversupply,it is almost sure to lose money. However that is how things work with Indian government companies where investment is made at the whims of ministers rather than rationality and business sense.BHEL is currently trading at one of the lowest valuations in its 10 year history and its not a big wonder why. The company has benefited in the past as did other machinery and engineering companies from an infrastructure invesment boom. However those glory days are over for the company as it faces competition from the Chinese companies and decreasing orders flow. Praful Patel the minister has already spent a few years in the airline ministry presiding over the conversion of the state owned carrier Air India ino a basket case. Now its the turn of BHEL to be turned into a basket case as well.
US Coal Companies are being forced to close coal mines and reduce production because of a massive glut of cheap natural gas and emission standards . Note Coal Disadvantages are much more than that of other fossil fuels making it the dirtiest form of energy. While India and China face massive coal shortages , USA on the other hand faces a glut . Coal has been coming under increasing attact in the West with few new thermal plants being opened and many closed due to tougher pollution standards. Note Clean Coal Technolgies and CCS is being promoted to prolong the use of Coal but they are not getting much traction.