Indian sugar mills to receive export subsidies
New Delhi: The government has said sugar mills in India will receive freight and transport subsidies for exports worth more than $30 a tonne amid falling global prices.

Mills in coastal areas will get a subsidy of Rs 1,350 ($32.77) a tonne, while those in the north of the country will receive Rs 1,450 per tonne the government on the Web site of the Department of Food and Public Distribution.

India is exporting sugar in a price band of $325-$350 per tonne cost and freight.

Sugar mills exporting refined sugar in lieu of duty-free imports of raw sugar would not be entitled to the freight and transport incentives, the government said.

Sugar firms resumed exports in January after a ban on foreign sales was lifted, but lower world prices have made overseas sales unattractive at the same time as India is expecting a bumper domestic crop in the year to September.
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Modernisation of Mumbai airport to gain momentum with financial closure
The Mumbai airport has achieved financial closure. GVK led Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd (MIAL) which is running Mumbai airport announced on Tuesday the formal signing of the loan agreement for meeting long term capital requirement. The loan tenure is for a period of 17 years. The repayment will commence from the end of the seventh year and will be repaid in 120 monthly payments thereafter. The financial closure means that the pace of modernisation of the airport will gain momentum from June onwards. Funds will be utilised to convert CSIA into a world-class airport with a capacity to handle traffic of 40 million passengers per annum by 2012.

MIAL in October 2006 announced a capital investment of Rs5,200 crore in the first phase of modernization. Apart from the loan amount, the balance Rs 1,000 crore will be through equity contribution from members of the consortium. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which has a 26 per cent stake in MIAL will not pay anything towards the capital investment.

MIAL will build a common integrated terminal for both domestic and international passengers at the Sahar side of the airport with large shopping space. It will upgrade and develop the runway system with taxiways and rapid exit taxiways to increase runway efficiency. It will also develop infrastructure on the city-side by creating efficient access to the terminals.
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WB industrialisation to continue, despite Nandigram: Buddhadev
Haldia: Despite the setback in Nandigram, West Bengal is determined to go ahead with industrialisation, Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said on Tuesday.

Bhattacharjee told a CPI (M) rally here that his government's industrial policy was clear. Expressing regret over the Nandigram incident triggered by plans to set up a chemical hub there, Bhattacharjee said it was not his government's policy to ask police to open fire on people and commit atrocities and that a misunderstanding had been created.

Bhattacharjee criticised opposition parties for 'misguiding people' on industrialisation and making 'a concerted move to create anarchy'.
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