According to this Indian Express article from 2014, Modi’s...

According to this Indian Express article from 2014, Modi’s decided that only schemes and projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore require the approval of the Union Cabinet or the Cabinet Committee concerned

The decision is expected to significantly cut down the number of proposals that require Cabinet approval and lead to quicker decision-making at the ministry level.

Given the TA has not required any Cabinet approval, it can be assumed that the Coldry-Matmor project(s), at least for now, is not worth more than ~150m USD (1000 cr).

http://indianexpress.com/article/in...cts-under-rs-1000-crore/#sthash.nQjN1cyo.dpuf

Also, from the same article,

The government has also decided that all schemes and projects which involve setting up of new companies, autonomous bodies, institutions/universities, and special purpose vehicles, etc, would be appraised by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) chaired by Secretary (Expenditure). This appraisal would be conducted irrespective of the outlay or the nature of the ministry/department, and all such cases would need to be approved at the level of the Cabinet or a Cabinet Committee.

And

The Finance Ministry has also come out with a list of dos and don’ts for ministries and departments involved in appraising and approving public-funded schemes and projects. It has asked ministries to ensure that proposals considered within the delegated powers “are subjected to rigorous examination in project design and delivery”, adding that “careful attention should be paid to recurring liabilities and fund availability after adjustment of the committed liabilities”.

So if these comments are at all relevant (and I am not saying they are ... but if they are), then it’s likely the two PSUs in the TA agreement, NMDC and NLC, worked through some very ‘rigorous examinations’ fairly quickly during 2015 and that ECT India may have got quick Cabinet Approval also fairly quickly for being a new Indian company.

All a bit of a dot-joining stretch, I know, but overall it seems consistent with these comments from ECT:

... the nature of the remaining approvals process prior to signing the tripartite agreement are largely Indian Federal Government clearance formalities ...

http://stocknessmonster.com/news-item?S=ESI&E=ASX&N=425954

So, it seems that it did not take very long at all for all parties to get the necessary government department approvals, especially with no Cabinet approvals required.

So why is it taking so long to get the final ‘formal clearances’ and confirmation re ‘foreign agent’ status? It's been over three months now - quarter of a year, at least.

Almost a year ago, we were looking at a timetable for the construction of a Coldry demo plant on the NLC site starting in early 2015 (from memory), now this:

If the Directive does apply, then the parties will have a defined pathway to obtain Federal Cabinet approval prior to signing and will pursue a contingent activity set on the way through, so as to minimise delays to the project.

If the Directive does not apply, then the parties intend to proceed to execute the tripartite agreement at the earliest mutual availability.

A lot of twists and turns along the way to clinch a bigger MUCH bigger deal, I know, I know. And given the hints re its 'material nature' and all the Ts crossed and Is dotted who knows if  it’s not a deal worth $149m USD.

All imo.