The Hindu Business Line : CCEA okays Rs 8,277-cr RINL expansion plan

THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved expansion of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) from 3 million tonnes to 6.3 million tonnes with a capital expenditure of Rs 8,692 crore as against the earlier estimate of Rs 8,277 crore.

The project would be completed by 2007-08 and will have a debt equity ratio of 1:1, the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, told reporters after the meeting.

The equity portion will be funded by the company from its internal accruals, he said.

Panel on public private partnership: The Government also approved the setting up of a Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) in the lines of the Public Investment Board (PIB) with the authority of appraising projects involving a capital cost of more than Rs 100 crore.

Once the projects are approved by the committee, they would be placed before the competent authority for final approval.

The committee would be chaired by the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

The other members would be the Planning Commission Secretary, Expenditure Secretary, Legal Affairs Secretary and the Secretary of the concerned Ministry, he said.

Direct tax laws amendment: Briefing reporters after the meeting of the Cabinet, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr Jaipal Reddy, said the Cabinet decided to defer a proposal on direct tax laws amendment which aimed to consolidate all the related announcements made since Budget and left it to the Prime Minister to fine tune the proposal.

The Cabinet approved introduction of a Bill in Parliament to repeal the Agriculture Produce Cess Act 1940 and the Produce Cess Bill 1966 to remove cess on exports.

"This would make exports more profitable," Mr Reddy said.

It also approved setting up of two Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata and Pune with an approved cost of Rs 500 crore each.

The projects would come up over the next seven years, he said.

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