by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodity Market, Investing, Medium Enterprise
Hyderabad : Orient Cement Ltd, a part of C.K. Birla Group, plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore to expand the capacity of its plant in Telangana, the state government said on Saturday.
The company will expand the capacity of its factory at Devapur in Mancherial district from current 3.05 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes of cement per annum.
Deepak Khetrapal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Orient Cement Ltd, on Saturday met Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao and discussed the expansion plans.
Orient Cements Ltd has obtained first stage of Environment Clearance from the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry for expanding the plant.
The construction of the plant is expected to start within four months once the final clearance from the ministry is received, said a statement from the minister’s office.
This plant is likely to give direct employment to 4,000 people. Khetrapal requested Rama Rao for limestone linkage from Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation (TSMDC) mines for long-term operation of the plant.
The minister said that the state government’s industrial policy continues to attract investments.
“Through Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), Telangana state has succeeded in attracting new investments to the state and is helping the existing firms in expanding their business in the state,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Banking, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, News, Politics

CBI Headquarters
Hyderabad : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked 41 persons including three officials of the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) for cheating the bank to the tune of Rs 539 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The federal agency registered two separate cases relating to large-scale frauds in IDBI branches in the two states in sanctioning pisciculture loans.
In the first case, 31 persons including IDBI’s General Manager Battu Rama Rao and former Chief General Manager R. Damodaran, 22 aggregators and bank panel valuers were booked for cheating the bank to the tune of Rs 445.32 crores. Rama Rao has also been removed from the service.
The central agency booked the accused on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, criminal misconduct and misappropriation.
The action came after a complaint by IDBI official in Hyderabad that about 220 borrowers, consisting of 22 aggregators, conspired with IDBI bank officials at its Basheerbagh (Hyderabad) and Siripuram (Visakhapatnam) branches, along with bank panel valuers, and availed Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and pisciculture loans through 220 loan accounts from different branches of the bank aggregating Rs 198.28 crore
The loans, which were availed on the basis of fake documents and overvalued collateral property, subsequently become NPA. The outstanding amount as on September 2017 stood at Rs 445.32.
It was found that pisciculture or no other fish farming activity was ever taken up in the said lands in East and West Godavari and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh and Adilabad district in Telangana and that sanctioned loans were misappropriated.
Bank panel valuers Lt. Col. B.K. Sahoo, Aakar Consulting Engineers, R.A. Sharma, M.V. Srinivasulu, Subha Syndicate, Srinivasa Rau and Somasekhara Rao were among those booked.
In the second case, the CBI booked a IDBI official and nine others for defrauding the bank to the tune of Rs 93.73 crore.
Chandrasekhar Harish Chennapagari, who was working as Assistant General Manager at Guntur branch of IDBI, allegedly abused his official position to process and sanction 142 pisciculture loans from 2010 to 2012. He has been removed from service by the IDBI.
Investigations revealed that the loans were sanctioned on the basis of fake documents. The accused include a bank panel valuer, a bank panel advocate, aggregators and individual borrowers.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Investing, Large Enterprise
Hyderabad : Participating in the World Economic Forum (WEF) for the first time, India’s youngest state Telangana is trying to woo investors.
The delegation led by Minister for Information Technology, Industries and Municipal Administration K.T. Rama Rao called on top executives of various companies and business leaders in Davos.
At the state pavilion at WEF, the delegation met the investors and briefed them of the enormous opportunities Hyderabad and other parts of the state offer.
The minister met Petra Laux, Head Global and Public Affairs, Novartis. Rao tweeted that expansion of Novartis in Hyderabad was among the issues discussed.
He also explained the progress of Hyderabad Pharma City, a state-of-the-art facility coming up with a university and research centre.
KTR, as the minister is popularly known, also met delegation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries led by Ken Kawai, Executive Vice President
He also called on Aloke Lohia, founder and group CEO, Indorama Ventures PCL, the world’s largest polyester company by capacity.
During the meeting, the minister explained about the Telangana’s progressive industrial policies and also the existing textiles ecosystem in the state.
He invited Aloke Lohia to explore investment opportunities in Kakatiya Mega Textiles Park coming up in Warangal.
With AirAsia Berhad’s CEO Anthony Fernandes and Deputy CEO Aireen Omar, KTR discussed the prospects of setting up AirAsia’s Tech Center and running innovation programmes to support startups in the aerospace sector.
KTR, who is Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s son, tweeted that he also had a brief but scintillating meeting with Chairman of RIL, Mukesh Ambani.
Earlier, the minister also met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son and cabinet minister Nara Lokesh.
KTR is scheduled to speak at a few sessions at WEF. He will participate in the discussion titled ‘Leveraging digital to deliver value to society’ on January 25. He will also participate in the roundtable on “Promoting design in India” organised by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
The next day, he will speak at the session titled ‘Global Tech, Local Solutions: Artificial Intelligence.’
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
Hyderabad : Telangana became the first state in the country to supply free 24-hour electricity to the agriculture sector as the scheme came into effect from Monday.
In a New Year gift, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government commenced round-the-clock supply to 23 lakh pump sets from midnight.
The government hoped that the move will end the despair of farmers and accelerate the growth towards achieving ‘Golden Telangana’.
The youngest state of the country was facing a severe power crunch at the time of its formation in 2014. However, it had amazing turnaround within few months, lifting the power cuts to all sectors.
It also managed to ensure nine-hour supply to farmers. With further addition to the installed capacity, the authorities have now made it 24-hour supply.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao described 24-hour supply as a “wonderful victory”. He congratulated the employees of the electricity organisations saying they pulled the state from power deficit to power sufficient.
He announced a special increment to the electricity employees in recognition of their efforts.
“Though it was not mentioned in the TRS manifesto nor we ever made any promise, keeping in view the untold misery of the farmers, it was decided to supply 24-hour free power supply,” he said.
KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said that though certain states are giving free supply to the farm sector it is restricted a few hours. In some other states, though 24-hour power is given, it is being charged.
The officials said with round-the-clock supply to agriculture sector, the maximum peak demand will touch 9,500 MW. They are also confident of meeting the maximum demand of 11,000 MW by March.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Events, Social Round-up
Hyderabad : India’s largest makerspace, a prototyping and design centre, will come up here next year and will have equipment worth over $20 million, Telangana’s Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao announced here on Tuesday.
To be known as T-Works, the facility will come up over 250,00 square feet with many partners offering their software tools and equipment.
Modelled on the lines of makerspaces in other countries and customised to Indian needs, this will probably be the world’s second largest facility of its kind, he said.
Anybody with an idea can collaborate with other people at T-Works and convert his or her designs into working prototype.
“T-Works will be up and running around this time next year,” the Minister said, while addressing India Design Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, adding anybody could use freely available tools — software, test and measurement equipment — to build any product.
“T-Works will allow anyone young or old school student, graduate or retired professor, man or woman to collaborate with other intelligent individuals and converge their designs on paper or PC and convert it into working prototype,” said Rama Rao, son of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Open to all Indians, the facility will have CNC machines, cutting machines of all kinds, welding and carpentry tools, PCB assembly machines, and 3D printers of all ranges.
“This I believe is going to change the way we do business especially with respect to design and hardware space in India,” he said.
The Minister said T-Works will help in making products in domains like mechanical, electro mechanic, electronics and semiconductor spaces.
It will also help in making products in automobiles, IoT, avionics, drones, med devices, medical instruments, defence equipment, consumer electronics, telecom products, mobile devices, gadgets and sensors.
“T-Works will become one of cornerstones and essential hub in the wheel in heralding a new wave of entrepreneurs, makers, tinkerers and designers of all kinds, aesthetic, textile, fashion, lifestyle, mechanical and technological,” he added.
—IANS