Whistleblower alleges siphoning of funds from MIAL; GVK gets MCA notice

International News
The GVK Group, which is in locked in a legal battle with the Adani Group on stake sale in its flagship Mumbai International Airport (MIAL), on Tuesday said it has received a notice from the corporate affairs ministry (MCA), seeking some details about the airport operator.
The group is resisting the Adanis' bid to buy out the 13.5 percent stake being held by its South African JV partner Bidvest in MIAL. The issue is with the Bombay High Court.
The Hyderabad-based infrastructure major, which has interest in power, coal mines and aviation among others, however, denied that other group companies have also received notices from the ministry.
"We confirm only MIAL has received a communication asking for certain details/information, which are being furnished," GVK said in a statement.
MIAL is a JV between GVK-led consortium of Bidvest and Airports Company of South Africa, and the state-run Airports Authority, in which GVK holds majority 50.5 percent and AAI 26 percent and the remaining 23.5 percent are with the two foreign partners.
While Bid Services Division Mauritius or Bidvest owns 13.5 percent, ACSA Global (Airports Company of South Africa) holds 10 percent in the nation's second busiest airport.

 The statement came after a section of the media reported that the GVK group was on the ministry radar following a whistle-blower alleging siphoning of funds, issuance of fake bills to inflate cost to get undue Customs and Excise duty benefits among others."We are not aware of any whistleblower complaint or any allegations that have appeared in a section of the media, which are baseless," the company said....READ MORE

Adani urges Australian govt to give 'a fair go' for coal mine project

Company News
Indian energy giant Adani has urged the Australian government to give its controversial coal mine project "a fair go" and indicated that the opposition party would not derail the proposed billion dollar project if it comes to power.

Gautam Adani-led Adani Group entered Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north.

The massive coal mine in Queensland state has been a controversial topic, with the project expected to produce 2.3 billion tonnes of low-quality coal.

''All we're every asking for a fair go and to be treated like everyone else. I think at certain points, that has not been the case. We're certainly not whining about it. We just want to get on with it now. We want a fair go," Adani Mining chief executive officer Lucas Dow, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He said the sort of scrutiny that the project was facing on the management plans was unprecedented.
The Adani project which still requires to clear few more approvals from the Queensland Government, including groundwater modelling, recently received the clearance from the federal government for development.

Commenting if the mine project could run any risk if the Labor Party comes to power, Dow said "I think (Federal Labor) has been crystal clear that if they are to form a government they won't be in the habit of creating sovereign risk by ripping up the existing approvals."


 He said that he was satisfied by recent assurances given by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen.

Solar installation stood at 8.3 GW in 2018, Adani top project developer

Company News

India’s solar installations stood at 8.3 GW in 2018. The installations include large-scale and rooftop solar capacity. The country’s cumulative solar capacity is around 28 GW as of 2018.

Much has changed in the Indian solar industry over the last year. There was some re-shuffling when it came to suppliers after the imposition of the safeguard duty while others have consolidated their positions, says Industry representative, said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

Mercom Communications India's report finds that the top 10 large-scale developers accounted for 60 per cent of the market share in 2018.

In terms of cumulative installations, Adani maintained its position as the top project developer, while ACME Solar was the developer with the most large-scale solar installations in 2018. Adani was the second largest developer in 2018.

Around 80 large-scale project developers with a pipeline of 5 MW or more in India. ACME Solar had the largest project pipeline at the end of 2018 closely followed by SB Energy (SoftBank) and Azure Power.

In 2018, the top 10 rooftop solar installers accounted for just 30 per cent of the installed capacity in India, reflecting the fragmented nature of the sector, said Mercom.

Rooftop installations grew 66 per cent year-over-year (YoY) with cumulative installations totaling nearly 3.3 GW at the end of 2018. Rooftop solar installations for 2018 amounted to 1.7 GW.


 Among rooftop installers, Tata Power led cumulative installations while CleanMax Solar was the top rooftop installer in 2018.ABB continues to lead solar inverter supply in the Indian market cumulatively and in 2018.