Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Nilgiri]

OLD NEWS
Aug 31, 2016, 05.32 PM IST

Some journalist recycling stuff on slow news day?

https://defence.pk/threads/india-ju...-global-logistics-performance-ranking.438121/

Did you read today's data?

Sure. But did you dissect it component wise? I posted the video for example of this. There is a lot of underlying strength in this number, it should not be taken prima facie. For example manufacturing posted at 9.1%....there is a sustained recovery here.

There is an IIP index weightage problem that is also messing things up that will need more data backlog (series wise which should happen in about a year) to help correct.

 

[Kraitcorp]

Some journalist recycling stuff on slow news day?

https://defence.pk/threads/india-ju...-global-logistics-performance-ranking.438121/



Sure. But did you dissect it component wise? I posted the video for example of this. There is a lot of underlying strength in this number, it should not be taken prima facie. For example manufacturing posted at 9.3%....there is a sustained recovery here.

my bad

 

[AndrewJin]

I think we still have to go a very long way as far as implementation of HST projects on large scale is concerned and honestly unless railway turns massively profitable, it will be an uphill task to find finances for these niche projects.
I once had a discussion on this topic from Chinese perspective with @AndrewJin and would like to share it with you all.

Yes, I don't think they will be absent.
Actually, concerning the 500-600km/h HSR, we already have a unit of EMU which has been tested in lab and on one HSR at 380km/h, and it will test on Beijing-Shenyang HSR at 600km/h. The current highest speed in China is 480+km/h on Beijing-Shanghai HSR.

https://defence.pk/threads/chinese-...nal-translations.363685/page-123#post-8636733

China didn't implement HST in one go and went in an incremental manner. They started in mid 70s and segregated freight and passenger traffic and wherever required constructed new lines for either freight or passenger, depending on what generates more revenue.
After this more lines were available for exclusive passenger traffic and these were then upgraded for higher speeds by incorporating better vehicle technology (Locos and train rakes), safety and communications. Freight lines were moved away from crowded locations to reduce cost (such as cities).

Once Passenger train speeds increased, it attracted more traffic allowing Railways to generate surplus capacity (money wise) to introduce higher fare and faster trains and it became basis of genuine 250+ HST lines which as i believe is already increased to 20,000+ kms of upto 350kph speed lines.

Another competitor of railway is road.
I think in India, many people choose <100km journey by railway?
In China, railway is all about mid-long distance.
Short distance journey is covered by bus, railway has no competitiveness until now (unless the current intercity HSR network matures).
And such bus is very cheap, a 50km bus journey in Shanghai from downtown to a suburban community is less than 5 yuan, on the urban expressway or rapid road.
When the urban expressways mature in India, I guess some passengers will choose road over railway...
In my province alone, we have 6200km long control-accessed expressway by 2015.
(In comparison, Germany has 12000km, with a geographic size double of my province)

If you compare above situation with India, we are probably at a stage where we want to take up line segregation and introduction of HST (or semi HST) simultaneously. The trouble off course is to find money and resolve for all this. 7 that is why is say we are atleast 10-15 away from seeing some perceptible change on ground in this field.
Till then let some enjoy cocktail dinner that usually follow in such conferences.

Time-saving
India is also a founding member of AIIB, which will provide loans for infra.

 

[anant_s]

A 22-year-old student who fell off a running train between Thane and Mulund on Wednesday afternoon was rescued by the motorman of another local who stopped his train to pick up the injured girl from the tracks. The good Samaritan then alerted station officials who rushed her to hospital in time.
Renuka Prajapati, a second year BSc student, was returning home to Kalwa after appearing for her college exams in Bhandup around 12pm in a slow local, when she fell off the footboard of the train.
Central Railway is proud of Shri S.K. Sharma, who was the motorman of the train.

 

[Echo_419]

Yes, I don't think they will be absent.
Actually, concerning the 500-600km/h HSR, we already have a unit of EMU which has been tested in lab and on one HSR at 380km/h, and it will test on Beijing-Shenyang HSR at 600km/h. The current highest speed in China is 480+km/h on Beijing-Shanghai HSR.

https://defence.pk/threads/chinese-...nal-translations.363685/page-123#post-8636733
View attachment 330483 View attachment 330482




Another competitor of railway is road.
I think in India, many people choose <100km journey by railway?
In China, railway is all about mid-long distance.
Short distance journey is covered by bus, railway has no competitiveness until now (unless the current intercity HSR network matures).
And such bus is very cheap, a 50km bus journey in Shanghai from downtown to a suburban community is less than 5 yuan, on the urban expressway or rapid road.
When the urban expressways mature in India, I guess some passengers will choose road over railway...
In my province alone, we have 6200km long control-accessed expressway by 2015.
(In comparison, Germany has 12000km, with a geographic size double of my province)


Time-saving
India is also a founding member of AIIB, which will provide loans for infra.

I have high hopes with AIIB

 

[Kraitcorp]

 

[MKC]

Reliance AGM: Mukesh Ambani's 45-minute speech cost Bharti, Idea Rs 13,800 crore
Amit Mudgill| Sep 1, 2016, 02.49 PM IST

In what could be the worst nightmare for Bharti Airtel, Mukesh Ambani said Reliance Jio would offer free voice... Shares of telecom incumbents such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications nosedived up to 9 per cent on Thursday, as challenger Reliance Jio priced data tariff for its services at as low as Rs 50/GB, kicking off a tariff war.

In what could be the worst nightmare for Bharti Airtel, the current market leader, Mukesh Ambani said Reliance Jio would offer free voice services to its active users.

Shares of Bharti Airtel slumped 8.99 per cent to hit a low of Rs 302 on BSE. Shares of Idea Cellular, the third largest telecom subscriber, crashed 9.09 per cent to hit a 52-week low of Rs 85. Within 45 minutes of Mukesh Ambani Reliance AGM, Bharti lost Rs 12,000 crore in market capitalisation, while Idea Cellular eroded Rs 2,800 crore in market value.

Reliance Communications, the fourth largest operator by subscriber base, plunged 6.49 per cent to Rs 50.40.

"All voice calls for Jio customers will be absolutely free," Ambani said. Roaming charges will also be zero, Ambani said. In addition, Jio will offer data at Rs 50 per GB (base rate) against current rate of Rs 250/GB charged by peers. Jio will launch 10 plans.

"We have price points starting from Rs 19 for the occasional data user, to a monthly rate of Rs 149 plan for the light data user and all the way up to a monthly Rs 4,999 plan for the heaviest data user," Ambani said.

The venture, Reliance Jio Infocomm, will be the world's biggest startup with an investment of Rs 1,50,000 crore, the company had said in March. It is believed that the company's subscriber base has already swelled to 25 million during trials. W

The RIL Chairman said Reliance Jio plans to cover 90 per cent of India's population by March 2017. The company will introduce 4G handsets at as low as Rs 2,999, Ambani said.


At present, Jio's network covers 18,000 cities and two lakh villages. A set of apps that Jio offers will be free for active subscribers till December 2017, Ambani said.




"All voice calls for Jio customers will be absolutely free," Ambani said. Roaming charges will also be zero, Ambani added.
Incumbent players were tightening their belts and had announced various schemes to retain existing subscribers "We continue to remain cautious on the sector in the light of the twin risks of Jio's impending launch and the upcoming spectrum auction," Credit Suisse said in a note.




Goldman Sachs in a note said that the response to this new entrant has been positive, with long queues in company stores. "We expect Jio to garner 35 million subscribers over the next two years, with data volume growth for incumbents slowing to 50 per cent in FY17E from 70 per cent in FY16,"it said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...book.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=TOI

 

[Ankit Kumar 002]

01-September, 2016 15:05 IST
Ministry of Railways Signs Joint Venture Agreement with the Govt. of Kerala

In the august presence of Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu a Joint Venture Agreement was signed today i.e. 1st September, 2016 between Ministry of Railways and Government of Kerala for developing railway infrastructure in the State. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Ashok Kumar Mital, Member Engineering, Shri Aditya Kumar Mittal and other Board Members, and other senior officials were also present on the occasion. The JV Agreement was signed by Shri S.C. Jain, Executive Director(Works) on behalf of Railways whereas it was signed by Shri K.R. Jyothilal, Secretary, Department of Transport & Revenue (Devaswom) on behalf of Govt. of Kerala.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that the signing of JV Agreements with the State Governments is a farsighted step of Ministry of Railways by which Railways want to work hand in glove with the State Governments for the development of railway infrastructure in the State. He said that these kinds of JV Agreement is the best example of cooperative federalism for development of the nation as envisioned by our Prime Minister. Shri Suresh Prabhu pointed out that Kerala has been neglected for too long and now concerted efforts are needed to develop its railway infrstrucutre. He said that Railway Ministry has given maximum allocation to Kerala during 2014-15 to 2016-17. He further said that Railways is also working on the re-development of Kochi and Ernakulam Stations of Kerala State.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman, Railway Board said that today’s JV Agreement will certainly fulfill the rail transport needs of the people of Kerala. He said that Railways want to extend railway network all over particularly in the States where demand is more and rail density is less. He said that railways has very limited resources and thus working in collaboration with the State Governments through JV Agreement can bring fruitful results for the people of the country.

SILENT FEATURE OF THE AGREEMENT

• Indian Railways has been playing a major role in national integration by connecting the remotest places and bringing people closer to each other. Railways receive a large number of demands for network expansion as a Railway line acts as an engine of growth for the area it serves.

• Railways have a large shelf of ongoing New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling projects needing about Rs 3.86 lakh crores to complete. We have been trying to meet the aspirations of public within limited availability of funds.

• To expedite the projects, Railways have been trying to mobilize resources through other than Gross Budgetary Support. Towards this mission, 10 State Governments have till now agreed to share the cost of 41 ongoing projects ranging from 25% to 67% of the project cost. Some States are providing land free of cost in addition to sharing of construction cost.

• In view of the growing demands for Railway Lines in various States and huge requirement of funds to execute them, Hon’ble Minister for Railways has taken an initiative for setting up of Joint Ventures with States for focused project development, resource mobilization, land acquisition, project implementation and monitoring of critical rail projects.

• Setting up of JVs will go a long way in identifying requirement of states keeping in line with other plans, finding avenues for funding of projects etc. Governments of Odisha, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat have already signed JV agreement with Ministry of Railways for the same.

• The present railway network density in Kerala is 2.70 Km per 100 square Km which is above national average 2.01 Km per 100 square Km. However, it is an established fact that the railway network density in the country as a whole needs to be improved and the States coming forward in this regard is a welcome step.

• Signing of these JVs will go a long way in developing infrastructure in the State of Kerala.

• The average outlay to Kerala in Railway Budget was Rs.821.0 crore during 2014-15 to 2016-17 which is an increase of 121% over the average outlay of 371.9 crore during 2009-10 to 2013-14.

********


AKS/DK
(Release ID :149435)

 

[Local_Legend]

Rlys launches travel insurance for 92 paise

The Indian Railways on Thursday launched an insurance scheme for passengers travelling on e-ticket, and a facility to book retiring rooms on hourly basis at stations.

Passengers with confirmed or RAC ticket, booked through the IRCTC website, will need to pay 92 paise as premium to get insurance coverage of up to Rs. 10 lakh in case of train accidents and other untoward incidents, including terrorist attack, dacoity, rioting, shooting or arson.

A passenger will be provided Rs. 10 lakh in case of death or permanent total disability and Rs. 7.5 lakh for permanent partial disability.

For hospital expenses, the insurance coverage will be up to Rs. 2 lakh.

In addition, Rs. 10,000 will be provided for transportation of mortal remains. There will be no refund of the premium in case of ticket cancellation, the Indian Railways said in a statement.

The Indian Railways have roped in Shriram General Insurance Company, ICICI Lombard and Royal Sundaram General Insurance for providing the cover.

The compensation claim has to be made within four months of the incident.

The insurance company is required to process the claim within 15 days of receipt of the required documents, the statement said.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/rlys-launches-travel-insurance-for-92-paise/article9062452.ece

Security audit of railtracks, bridges sought

Summary: So, it was high time the Railways thought about advance technology and sophisticated equipment to meet exigencies, he said. Routine test using ultrasound fault-detection system and train-attached oscillating modulation system which records the condition of the tracks should be used to ensure safety. The shuttle services operated by the Railways and the KSRTC were insufficient to meet the passenger needs. All coaches which are more than 25 years in service and old locomotives should be replaced, said C.E. In a memorandum, the confederation urged Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu to consider the proposal to lay a third track in the entire State.



Some of the tracks in the State are in continuous operation for more than 150 years The Confederation of All India Rail Users Associations has demanded that the Indian Railways carry out a security audit of the rail tracks and rail bridges in the State in the wake of the derailment of the Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Express on Sunday. A meeting of the confederation said that periodical inspection and thorough patrolling should be conducted since some of the existing tracks were in continuous operation for more than 150 years in Kerala. Routine test using ultrasound fault-detection system and train-attached oscillating modulation system which records the condition of the tracks should be used to ensure safety. All coaches which are more than 25 years in service and old locomotives should be replaced, said C.E. Chakkunny, working chairman of the confederation. In a memorandum, the confederation urged Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu to consider the proposal to lay a third track in the entire State.

The railway budget had proposed a plan in this regard in 2013. Mr. Chakkunny said the Railways took more than a day to partially restore the services after the derailment of 12 coaches near Karukutty railway station near Angamaly on August 28. Train services almost came to halt in the State.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...-railtracks-bridges-sought/article9060944.ece


Post Karukutty derailment, railways embarks on a safety trip


KOLLAM: Following a directive from Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad Railway Divisions have launched a safety audit. And it was in the wake of the Mangaluru Express derailment at Karukutty recently that the Union Minister issued the directive to Zonal Railways and Railway Divisions across the country to conduct a 14 day-long safety drive to avert similar mishaps in the future. According to Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager(DRM) Prakash Bhutani, steps, including Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) of rail tracks will be conducted as part of the safety drive and a detailed report will be submitted to the Southern Railway Headquarters(HQ) in Chennai within a week. “Vulnerabilities, if any, will be rectified and the same will be reported to the HQ. Every month we conduct a safety audit in our Division and we have data on the flaws and issues. These will be included in the detailed report which might be submitted to the HQ on September 8 or 9. In order to address the derailment incidents, USFD of rail tracks will also be conducted,” the DRM said.

Meanwhile, Palakkad Additional Divisional Railway Manager T Rajkumar said steps, including track maintenance, replacement of outdated rail coaches and others will be initiated as part of the drive. The findings from the field, the measures initiated by the Division, the assistance required from the HQ as well as the Railway Board would be consolidated in the final report to be submitted to the headquarters on the conclusion of the drive, he added.

In his seven-point directive, the Rail Minister had urged the Zonal Railways and the Divisions to check track geometry on curves, conduct inspection of points and crossings as well as USFD of wheel burnt, besides replacement of switches and crossings. Prabhu also highlighted the fact that since derailments accounted for 50 per cent of all railway mishaps in the country, follow-up action on all the shortcomings and irregularities detected during the drive should be ensured.As has been the case, each and every train accident, including derailment, is inquired into either by the Commissioner of Railway Safety under the Ministry of Civil Aviation(MoCA) or Departmental Inquiry Committee to establish the reasons which led to the accident and to make suitable recommendations.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/sta...n-a-safety-trip/2016/09/02/article3608052.ece

 

[raj76]

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण,कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे
हरे राम हरे राम, राम राम हरे हरे
02-09-2016

#Economy:Govt will seek Presidential assent for the landmark Constitution amendment bill for GST as 16 states have ratified the legislation.

#Finance: The successful implementation of PAHAL, effecting elimination of duplicate and ghost consumers, has resulted in estimated savings of more than Rs 21,000 crore. Today more than 160 million consumers registered under PAHAL are getting subsidy directly into their bank account.

#The CBDT today issued a fresh clarification exempting those who declare untaxed assets or income under the ongoing black money declaration window from enquiry during future raids. It is clarified that wherever in the course of search or survey operation, any document is found as a proof for having already filed a declaration under the Scheme, including acknowledgment issued by the I.tax Deptt for having filed a declaration, no enquiry would be made.

#Mera Bharat Mahaan:Eminent space scientist G Madhavan Nair said India should take steps to bring about a second green revolution and also integrate ancient wisdom with modern techniques to offer affordable health-care for the masses.

भारत माता की जय

 

[Nilgiri]

The successful implementation of PAHAL, effecting elimination of duplicate and ghost consumers, has resulted in estimated savings of more than Rs 21,000 crore. Today more than 160 million consumers registered under PAHAL are getting subsidy directly into their bank account.

Wow! @anant_s @PARIKRAMA @Abingdonboy

 

[raj76]

 

[Kraitcorp]

 

[Nilgiri]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...wers-to-7-1-per-cent/articleshow/53972037.cms

========

Also like I mentioned earlier, there is a sustained recovery and acceleration in manufacturing:

Manufacturing PMI at 13-month high in August

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...month-high-in-august/articleshow/53957352.cms

 

[Abingdonboy]

Coming soon @anant_s