Duty on captive power hits Orissa firms

 The state government hiked power duty from 12 paise to 20 paise for captive power plants in addition to the duty on auxiliary consumption.

 The duty would raise the production cost of commodity units where power was a key input, said Rabindra Mishra of Indal, who was also president of the Confederation Of Captive Power Plants of Orissa.

 The impact of electricity duty increase on the production cost for aluminium was Rs 1,280 per tonne, charge chrome Rs 320 per tonne, ferro-silicon Rs 640 per tonne, pig iron Rs 560 per tonne, tyre Rs 104 per tone and paper Rs 144 per tonne.