India: According to Live Mint, the majority of 3261 highly-polluting industries in India, including the cement and steel sectors, are set to miss the June 2015 deadline set by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) to install online effluent and emission monitoring systems.

Most industries have recently sought an extension to September 2015, although some from sectors like petrochemicals and refinery asked the deadline to be extended to June 2016. The environment ministry is considering the former plea. "The ministry is favourably considering extending the deadline until September 2015 for the majority of industries. But we are not sure about extending it to June 2016 for certain industries. A final call will be taken soon in this regard," said a senior environment ministry official.

On 16 - 17 June 2015, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) held a meeting of industrial associations and common waste management facilities to review the status of compliance of their directions regarding the installation of online effluent and emission monitoring devices. According to the minutes of the meeting, 'By-and-large, associations have agreed to meet the deadlines by September 2015, except in the case of mini cement plants, refinery, petrochemicals and common bio-medical facilities.'

In December 2014 the CPCB identified 3261 industries in 17 categories of highly-polluting industries, including the cement, iron and steel, thermal power plants, sugar, tannery, distillery, fertilisers and pesticide sectors. The CPCB had asked the industries to install online effluent and emission monitoring systems by June 2015, failing which bank guarantees of 100% of the cost of online systems (emission or effluent) would be forfeited. The CPCB had also said that its 'consent to operate' would be withdrawn from non-complaint industries.