Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Steel
19-April, 2017 15:02 IST
Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh inaugurates India Steel 2017 in Mumbai

Following is the text of the Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh’s Inaugural Speech at the India Steel 2017 International Conference and Exhibition in Mumbai today:

Dr. Aruna Sharma, Secretary, Steel

Dr. Edwin Basson, Director General, World Steel Association

Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI Shri P.K.Singh, Chairman, SAIL

CMDs of Steel Companies

Senior Officials from Government of India and State Governments

Delegates & Exhibitors from India & abroad

Ladies & Gentlemen

I am happy to be with you all at ‘India Steel-2017’.

The gathering today is unique as multiple stakeholders of the Steel Industry are together at one platform. It is encouraging to see almost the entire Steel industry coming together to participate in this mega event.

I extend a warm welcome to a large number of international delegates who are part of the India Steel Expo.

The Reverse Buyer-Seller Meet being held during the event is first-of-its-kind exclusive meet for steel sector. This is a welcome initiative. I compliment Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Steel, FICCI and all those involved in this initiative. It will prove to be a landmark step for taking Indian steel to far corners of the world.

I commend the organising team for implementing my suggestion of having a session for women in steel sector. Constituting half the population, women are the joint decision makers in purchase decisions for home. Women can be perfect brand ambassadors for steel, as also influencers and opinion makers.

I am sure these two will become regular features in forthcoming events.

I was recently reading in a magazine that ‘Dollar value of steel’ is twice the size of all other major metal industries combined.

In terms of tonnes produced, steel is 15 times larger than other metal industries.

In terms of importance, steel is second only to oil as an essential segment for economic development. It is a matter of pride that all of us are a part of such a huge and important sector of the economy.


As we all know, the past 3 years have been quite challenging for the steel industry. Government of India intervened strategically at regular intervals to provide policy and regulatory support as and when required. MIP, Safeguard duties, anti-dumping duties, construction & infrastructure investment etc. were brought in to provide a level playing field.



I took charge of the Ministry of Steel in July 2016, and since then we have been focussing on five thrust areas, which can be summed up as PRIDE. These are


· Production and productivity increase

· Research & Development

· Indian-made steel concept

· Demand boost for steel

· Excellence in Quality and Efficiency

The focussed strategy of PRIDE has given desired results. India has emerged as a leading country among the steel producing nations. It is heartening to note that we are among the few countries to have a positive demand growth for steel.

In financial year 2016-17, Indian Steel industry has performed exceedingly well. We doubled our exports of steel products. In fact, India became a net exporter of steel after a gap of 3 years. We reduced our steel imports by 1/3rd and increased production of crude steel by around 9 percent During the last financial year, consumption of steel in India increased by 3 %.

I must compliment and congratulate each one of you for this wonderful performance. We have been providing a level playing field and equal opportunity to all steel producers. The industry, in turn reciprocated by putting in their best efforts to convert the challenges to opportunities.

I am sure that 2017-18 will also be a record-breaking year, with India leading the growth trend among major steel producing countries. I have full confidence in your potential and capabilities and I am sure that we can repeat the performance of 2016-17.

I want the industry to give as much growth as in last financial year and in fact one per cent more. I am asking you to better your best. Let our mission for 2017-18 be “Plus One Per Cent Growth Rate”.


We increased exports by 102 %, let us at least increase exports by 103 % this year.

We increased steel production by 9 %, let us increase production by at least 10 %.

We reduced imports by 36 %, let us see if we can further reduce imports by 37 %.


Steel consumption increased by 3 %, let us ensure that it increases by 4 %. With Rs. 4 lakh crore of investments planned in infrastructure sector, there is a huge opportunity for increasing consumption. World Steel Association has projected Indian steel demand to grow by 5.7 % in 2017. While globally steel demand has been projected to grow by 0.5 %in 2017. So demand in India will grow at 10 times the world levels in 2017.

As you know we have already shared the Draft National Steel Policy 2017 in public domain. I am happy to see that we have received very good suggestions and ideas. The draft National Steel Policy, which is scheduled to be released soon, will give concrete shape to the vision and plans for the steel industry.

We want to bring in 100 % quality regime in Indian steel sector. I am glad to share that Ministry of Steel is far ahead of other Ministries in implementing quality standards. Around 75 % of steel products are already covered under quality norms.

I would like to highlight three more areas today, raw material for steel making, demand generation for steel and Research & Development in steel sector.

One of the major constraints that Indian steel industry faces is raw material availability and prices. Coking Coal Prices have almost doubled in last three weeks. Cyclone Debbie in Australia last month has affected major mines and ports, which is leading to this sudden price jump. And it is not happening for the first time.

Indian steel industry is heavily dependent on imports of coking coal and this situation arises after every alternate year. We need to make conscious and concerted efforts to overcome this situation.

Ministry of Steel is working with other Ministries like Coal, Petroleum & Natural Gas & Shipping on all these fronts. More coal washeries are in pipeline. Coal India Limited is in the process of acquiring coking coal assets. Controlling diversion of coking coal to thermal plants is being considered and domestic production of coking coal is being increased.

Ministry of Steel has approached concerned Ministries & Departments and is constantly working on expediting finalization of ‘Metal Recycling Policy’ so that steel scrap is available domestically as a raw material to steel industry.

In a national conference for secondary steel sector that we organised earlier this month in Delhi, Gadkari ji shared the idea of a waterway to bring gas to India at a very low cost, which can be given to steel plants also.

Another breakthrough that we have achieved is that Railways have agreed to our demand for allowing slurry pipeline across railway lines. This will bring down cost of transportation. We need to have more slurry pipelines as logistics costs account for around 15 % of the total cost of steel production in India.

We are closely coordinating with Ministry of Housing & Ministry of Urban Development for increasing usage of steel. Venkaiah Naidu ji has assured us that feasibility of increasing steel usage in housing projects under Pradhan mantra Awas Yojana-Urban, will be examined.

Ministry of Steel team is working round the clock to conceive and execute strategies to increase demand for steel in India. Steel Industry as a whole needs to work together to establish the advantages and utility of using steel.

We all know that steel proves cost-effective on long term basis though it appears to be costly if we only look at upfront costs. Ministry pursued and succeeded in inclusion of the concept of Life Cycle Cost Analysis in GFR Rules 2017. Now the industry needs to have sufficient and updated data on such aspects.

I suggest that primary and secondary steel producers must come together to establish a “Big-data Analytics & Application Centre for Steel”. The objective should be to pool resources and information available with all steel companies and analyse the collated data.

This will help to promote usage of steel by statistically demonstrating the advantages of steel over other materials and also to explore new areas where steel can be used.

And let all your findings and research be in public domain so that there is no one-upmanship and data ownership issues. This will also help media, opinion leaders, architects and engineers get access to authentic and credible database. I am sure industry will give a serious thought to this idea.

For increasing consumption of steel, we have also conceptualized the idea of Indian-made steel. The Draft Cabinet Note has been finalized. The proposal, as you know, is to make it mandatory to use Indian-made steel in key projects.

We have organized Regional Conferences, reconstituted Steel Consumer Council, set up Inter-Ministerial Task Forces, got the proposal of Crash barriers along the highways approved by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. We will continue to provide policy support and supporting infrastructure through these and other new avenues.


Another area where I feel industry needs to focus on is Research & Development. We have been limiting ourselves to incremental improvements in existing technologies. However we also need to work on new technologies to overcome our bottlenecks.

Inspite of being world’s third largest steel producer, we still import huge quantities of value-added and special steels which are not being made in India. I had also shared an idea earlier about light-weighting of commercial vehicles using a new type of steel. This will help reduce wear and tear, fuel cost and will also increase demand for specialized steel. We need to focus on such advanced products.

R&D in steel sector also needs to be oriented to market requirements and customer needs. Commercialization potential should be a key component of R&D projects.

Ministry has set up “Steel Research & Technology Mission of India”. Realizing that Steel-related R&D efforts are scattered in India, I have restructured the institution of SRTMI in such a way that it functions as the umbrella body for all steel- related R&D in India.

Let us innovate and show the world that we can also develop technologies that are world-class and unique.

I am pleased that we are also giving awards to the winners of Prime Minister’s Trophy, Steel Minister’s Trophy and other performers today.

These awards pertain to earlier periods, and it seems it was destined that you receive the awards from me only. Good for me, and I hope you also take it in the same spirit. My heartiest congratulations to all the award winners.

I am sure these awards will continue to serve as a source of encouragement to the winners and inspiration to others.

We need to aspire and strive for accomplishing the benchmarks of performance. Then and only then, we can become a truly world-class steel producing nation.

We have also announced institution of awards for the secondary steel producers on similar lines. Ministry is in the process of finalizing criteria for annually ranking Top 50 Secondary Steel producers, which we would call


“Smart Steel Producers.”


You can see that the whole machinery of Government of India is working as a team to put steel and other industries on fast-track. It is up to the industry now as to how much you can benefit from these initiatives by taking lead and marketing its products.

The steel sector in India has been moving in upward direction since 2014 when Modi ji took charge as Prime Minister. The flight of progress and growth of steel industry has gained enough speed and momentum on the runway in last 2-3 years. Now is the time for take-off and touch commanding heights of success.

Let us all pledge ourselves to work together towards the goal of “Make in Steel for Make in India.” Let us make concerted and whole-hearted efforts to ensure that the steel sector thrives and maintains vibrancy.

My best wishes to the Conference.

*****

 

[Hindustani78]

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu dedicating the New Freight Terminals under Mission Hundred to the Nation, by flagging off, through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 19, 2017. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital and the Member Traffic, Railway Board, Shri Mohd. Jamshed are also seen.

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagging off the Freight Trains from following Freight Terminals namely: a. Adani, Kila Raipur b. Penna Cement, Tandur and c. CONCOR, ICD, Khemli, through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 19, 2017. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital and the Member Traffic, Railway Board, Shri Mohd. Jamshed are also seen.

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagging off the Express Train No 16791/16792 from Punalur to Palakkad, through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 19, 2017. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital and the Member Traffic, Railway Board, Shri Mohd. Jamshed are also seen.

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu addressing at the flag-off of the New Trains and dedication of New Freight Terminals, through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 19, 2017. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital and the Member Traffic, Railway Board, Shri Mohd. Jamshed are also seen.

 

[RISING SUN]

Sovereign rating upgrade overdue for India; can be big trigger for market
India’s credit rating has remained unchanged since June 2007, which is the lowest investment grade rating, only a grade above the ‘junk’ status for sovereign bonds. It’s about time rating agencies woke up to the new reality in India.
Rating agencies rate sovereign bonds on the basis of lending risks, which essentially boils down to estimating the borrowers’ ability to repay its debt, and the likelihood of them defaulting. India’s ratings have remained stuck at the BBB- level, despite the country witnessing substantial improvement in growth and macroeconomic stability in last 10 years.
India’s S&P rating in last 10 tears (No change after 2014)


Rating agencies normally look at such parameters as FDI inflows, debt-to-GDP ratio and per capita income of nations under rating, with the debt-to- GDP ratio being the most important.

FDI inflows into the country have been rising constantly. In 2016-17, we received the highest FDI on record at $46,800 million, higher than $45,148 million inflow witnessed in 2014.
A crucial parameter – the debt-to-GDP ratio – is improving, with a decline in debt as a percentage of GDP. The central government has adopted a course of fiscal prudence, but states have to show more discipline. Even then, the debt-to-GDP ratio, which was at 68.49 per cent in 2016, is likely to fall to 67.21 per cent in 2017, according to IMF estimates. By 2018, it should decline further to 65.56 per cent. By 2023, it is expected to come down to 60 per cent.
The per capita income has risen 9 per cent from $1,576 in 2014 to $1,719 in last financial year. IMF expects the per-capita GDP figure to touch $2611 by 2021.

Unfair rating
India is not getting a fair deal from the rating agencies.
Consider this: Spain has a BBB+ rating with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 101 per cent. Italy, with a debt-to- GDP ratio of 133 per cent, almost double than that of India, has the same rating. These ratings are all the more glaring, when you consider their worsening demographics. In the case of Italy, political fluidity was responsible for the nation experiencing a loss. Italy has seen 12 prime ministers in last five years.
One of the reasons behind their favourable ratings, despite risky debt-to-GDP ratios was the currency.

But with Brexit becoming a reality, and the French elections being fought with an EU-exit agenda, this advantage may soon be lost.

India is where the growth is
The IMF expects China to grow at 6.5 per cent in calendar year 2017, and at a slower 6 per cent in 2018. India, on the other hand, is expected to grow 7.2 per cent in CY2017 and 7.70 per cent in 2018, making India the logical place to seek growth. This is going to attract more FDI and portfolio investments.
Portfolio investors are early movers. By the time rating agencies put the stamp of approval on the improving economy, they would have made their money.

A weak rupee has always been the nemesis of FIIs. But with the rupee regaining strength, FIIs are pumping in more money. In the first quarter of this calendar, the Nifty50 is up 12.07 per cent. But in dollar terms, the returns are 17.45 per cent.
FIIs have never had it so good in five years. In fact this is the highest return in 20 quarters, courtesy the rupee, which appreciated 4.5 per cent during the quarter.

A rating upgrade is inevitable
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has thrown its weight behind India, and says the country is worthy of a credit rating upgrade.
India’s superior demographics, Aadhaar-based income-tax collection and subsidy transfer, political stability, stable crude prices and a strengthening rupee will force rating agencies to re-rate India, sooner than expected.

They are probably waiting to see how the GST rolls out. If this goes smoothly, rating agencies will, in all likelihood, upgrade India by March 2018, if not earlier.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...-for-market/articleshow/58297585.cms?from=mdr

India's growth impressive in recent years: IMF


India’s growth has been “impressive” in recent years and this gives the room for tax broadening efforts by the government, a top International Monetary Fund (IMF) official has said.

“India has recorded quite an impressive growth performance in recent years. Our view is that the elimination of fuel subsidies and the targeting of social benefits has delivered in terms of allowing the union budget target to be achieved at 3.5 per cent of GDP,” Vitor Gasper, Director of the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department told reporters at a news conference.

“We have been collaborating with the Indian authorities in terms of looking at fiscal structural measures, including expenditure rationalisation while protecting infrastructure investment, tax broadening efforts,” he said.

In this context, the rollout of the Goods and Services tax (GST) is an extremely important step that would create a true unified national market in India, he said.

“We see room for tax broadening efforts. We see room for more progressive income taxes in line with trends in income inequality. Perhaps more generally, we do see a case for a medium-term framework and we know that the authorities are actively working on that,” Mr. Gasper said.

Inequality has increased in both India and China. Moreover, globalisation and technological change have been major drivers of economic growth and cross country convergence.

“More than one billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since the early 1980s, and most of them come from China and India,” he said. “At the same time, when you focus on country indicators, you see that inequality has increased in most advanced economies and large emerging economies. Again, I am referring to China and India.”

“The clear perception around the world of widespread increases in income inequality illustrates the dominance of national politics shaping these perceptions. Fiscal policies, government expenditures and revenues are powerful means to ensure the sharing of the growth dividend,” the official added.

http://www.thehindu.com/business/in...rowth-in-recent-years-imf/article18152588.ece

What the IMF global financial stability report says about India
Financial stability around the world continues to improve, says the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Global Financial Stability Report released on Wednesday. But it also points out that while emerging markets may be more resilient now, there are considerable risks from rising corporate debt, especially in a scenario of increasing global risk premiums and rising protectionism. India, says the report, will be among the countries that will see the greatest deterioration in corporate balance sheets.

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India starts off on a weak footing. The current debt that is at risk is the highest among large emerging markets. About one in every five rupees has been lent to companies that have an interest coverage ratio—a measure of a company’s ability to pay its debt—of less than one. As the chart above shows, this debt burden will worsen with rising protectionism and risk premiums. For India, this debt at risk could increase by as much 6.7 percentage points. Such a scenario is already underway. For instance, US President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order on Wednesday will make it harder for US firms to import steel.

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For Indian banks, this will come as bad news at a time when they are struggling with at least Rs7 trillion in toxic loans and thin provisioning buffers. The IMF statistics don’t make for good reading. India’s gross bad loans ratio is among the worst, next only to Russia. About 79% of Indian banks’ assets have provisioning needs in excess of their profits; about 77% of assets will be backed by tier-1 capital ratios of 10% (To be sure, most of these are with public sector banks which theoretically have government backing, but any extra capital from the government will be at the cost of the fiscal deficit). IMF estimates that about one-third of the Indian banking system needs to set aside at least three years of earnings to provision adequately for bad loans.

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The IMF estimates may well be overly conservative. But just earlier this week, the Reserve Bank of India advised banks to set aside more money against even good loans in stressed sectors. According to a Credit Suisse analysis, exposure to stressed sectors such as telecom and power forms a significant portion of their balance sheets. Setting aside more money to cover the risk of default will hit earnings by up to 15% for some banks, the brokerage said.
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/m9...financial-stability-report-says-about-In.html

Solar power may become cheaper than coal in India
India’s solar power prices may be set to fall below those of thermal (coal) energy.

This is based on an expected cost of around Rs2.90 per unit for the solar power projects at Bhadla in Rajasthan that have received 51 bids. This price is less than the average rate of power generated by the coal-fuelled projects of India’s largest power generation utility, NTPC Ltd, at Rs3.20 per unit.

State-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which is running the bid process for 750 megawatt (MW) of solar power capacity at two parks, has received bids totalling 8,750 MW. The bidders include some first-time participants in India, such as Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar.

The solar space has already seen a significant decline in tariffs from Rs10.95-12.76 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2010-11. The previous low was Rs3.15 per kWh, bid by France’s Solairedirect SA in an auction last week to set up 250MW of capacity at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

This low was preceded by Rs3.30 per unit quoted for a 750MW project at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.

Ashvini Kumar, managing director of SECI, credits the Rewa bid with being a tipping point. The structuring in terms of payment guarantee and offtake arrangement was the trigger for the sharp drop in prices and signalled the arrival of the low solar power tariff regime, he explained.

“Prices have been falling and then came RUMS (Rewa Ultra Mega Solar park)...and that kind of created history. There was aggressive bidding. A lot of credit was given to the structuring of the PPAs (power purchase agreements), bids and offtake arrangement, security by state and things like that,” said Kumar.

He added that a sub-Rs3.00 per unit price is possible.

In Bhadla, while Saurya Urja Company of Rajasthan Ltd is developing a 500 MW park, Adani Renewable Energy Park Rajasthan Ltd is developing another of 250 MW capacity. Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd is a joint venture partner in both.

While a total of 24 bids totaling 5,500 MW were received for the 500 MW capacity on offer, the 250 MW park saw 27 bidders totalling 3,250 MW.

After the financial bids are opened within four weeks, a reverse auction process will be run to select the developers.The bidders include Aditya Birla Renewable, Hero Solar, SBG Cleantech One Ltd, ReNew Solar Power Pvt. Ltd, ACME Solar Holdings Pvt. Ltd, Green Infra and Azure Power.

Kumar also attributed the growing bidders’ interest to tripartite agreements (TPAs) between the Reserve Bank of India, the Union government and the state governments, which provided comfort to power producers against payment defaults by state electricity boards (SEBs).
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/sv...er-may-become-cheaper-than-coal-in-India.html

India shows path for cheaper solar energy: World Bank
It is better to move towards solar energy than to continue to build coal plants, World Bank President Jim Young Kim said today, citing India's massive efforts in solar energy which has made it "cost effective" and "quite competitive".

"There's some really good news. We've our IFC (International Finance Corporation), our private sector group, has been working in India and as recently as a year and a half, two years ago, the price of solar was still around 10, 11 cents per kilowatt hour.

"And so coal was still much cheaper than solar. But the latest option that we've been involved in got that price down to 4.4 cents a kilowatt hour. So now solar is quite competitive with coal," Kim told reporters.

He said there was need to keep doing that as the options around the world, even in emerging markets, have gone down below three cents a kilowatt hour at which point it "becomes cost effective".

"The incentives are clear that moving towards solar is better than continuing with the building of coal plants. So we need to find ways of accelerating that process. We hope to come out of these spring meetings with a platform like that in place," Kim told reporters at the news conference held at the start of the annual Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He said climate change issue continued to be a priority for the Bank.

"We are thinking about how we can bring together the private sector, the public sector, philanthropists, environmental organisations, governments, to try to really create momentum around financing for climate change," he said.

On coal, he identified six countries - China, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam – which are putting most of the coal-based carbon in the air.

"So if we can change the incentives, and change the way that financing for energy works in those six countries, we could potentially have a huge impact on how much carbon we put in the air," Kim said.

"We call this our following the carbon initiative in that we have to make progress in these six countries of moving them much more quickly to renewable source. All right, so now the good news is that renewable source are getting cheaper," he said referring to the low price of solar.

"I'm told that storage technology is getting better very quickly, and that within a few years, we may have some major transformations in the ability to store energy from intermittent sources. So, with all that happening, we think that a major issue is going to be cost to finance, the cost of capital," Kim said.

However, he rued that a grant of hundred billion was promised, but is not coming.

"I mean the Green Climate Fund is still right around 7.5 billion after two or three years. The estimation was that there would be many more billions of dollars than that. So we're using this meeting to bring all of the leaders together to come up with a new plan," he said.

Kim said the bank was going to put on the table a different kind of platform where all the different groups that are trying to have an impact on climate can work together to put the financing tools together.
"The bottom line is this, that the science of climate change didn't change with any particular election. And I don't see that it will," he asserted.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...-cheaper-solar-energy-world-bank-2262721.html

India Plans Auctions for 4 Gigawatts of Wind Power This Fiscal Year
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is seeking to step up the pace of auctioning power-purchase contracts for wind-energy plants, building on a contest that reaped record-low prices for solar farms earlier this month.

The government plans to offer deals covering almost 4 gigawatts of wind capacity in the current fiscal year ending March 2018 in addition to 750 megawatts of solar capacity it will tender next month, Ashvini Kumar, managing director at Solar Energy Corp. of India, the country’s implementing agency for renewable targets, told reporters in New Delhi.

Modi is seeking to expand renewables to help balance India’s burgeoning needs for electricity against efforts to clear the skies of pollution. The government has a goal to install 175 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2022 and is prodding local authorities to step up the pace of permitting renewables.

“The ministry of new and renewable energy has written to all states to indicate their requirement for green power to consolidate demand, as more tenders would be brought out,” Kumar said.

SECI, which conducted Asia’s first onshore wind auction in February, received bids to supply wind power for 3.46 rupees (5 U.S. cents) a kilowatt-hour, much lower than feed-in tariffs of 4 rupees to 5 rupees prevailing across India’s most windy states.

According to Kumar, the government thinks that 5 gigawatts to 6 gigawatts of wind capacity can be added every fiscal, and companies could be able to reach the government’s goal over the next four years.

Modi’s goal calls for a doubling of India’s wind capacity to 60 gigawatts and a 10-fold increase in solar projects to 100 gigawatts.

SECI already has planned to offer 750 megawatts of solar projects next month in the sunny state of Rajasthan, anticipating that contest will bring record-low bids. The auction structure forces companies to compete for contracts to sell power from renewable energy plants, encouraging them to reduce prices.

The price of solar power in India fell to a record of 3.15 rupees a kilowatt-hour last week in an auction for 250 megawatts earlier this month, besting February’s record of 3.30 rupees a unit.

“The trend in the market should continue, and I would like to think that the market hasn’t bottomed out," Kumar said when asked if tariffs in the upcoming project could go below the 3-rupees mark.

Timely payments to investors backing green power also will help bring prices lower, the official said. The industry has a guarantee backed by the states, SECI, and the Reserve Bank of India, which is the national central bank. This agreement has been executed with 23 states, and SECI expects the remaining to come on board soon, he added.

India’s green-power ambitions have been at risk from loss-making state-run power retailers that aren’t able to buy enough power and have run behind on payments to several domestic and overseas clean-energy companies, racking up deficits of several hundred million dollars.

The upcoming 750-megawatt solar park is split into a 500-megawatt project offering five contracts to build 100 megawatts and a 250-megawatt piece where investors can bid chunks of at least 50 megawatts.

Kumar said the larger piece was oversubscribed 11 times and the smaller one by 13 times when the bids were submitted by investors on Wednesday. The firms bidding included companies from the Middle East and other locations new to India’s renewables auctions.

Infrastructure development and finance group IL&FS has developed the 500-megawatt solar park by acquiring land for installations and building power evacuation systems, while the same has been done for the remaining 250-megawatt portion by Indian conglomerate Adani group.

The solar park charges for the IL&FS group facility are 4.2 million rupees a megawatt, while that for the Adani group’s park are 3.6 million rupees, SECI General Manager Sanjay Sharma said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...uctions-for-4-gigawatts-of-wind-power-this-fy

Foreign investors giving M&A deals in India’s renewable energy sector a miss
Foreign strategic investors have largely stayed away from the flurry of deal-making in India’s renewable energy sector, preferring instead to build from the ground up.

Out of the $2.32 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India’s renewable energy sector in the last 15 months, foreign companies have bought assets worth just $290.6 million, while Indian companies have acquired $2.03 billion worth of assets, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Among the larger deals in this period are Tata Power Co Ltd’s acquisition of 1.1 gigawatt (GW) assets from the Welspun Group, Greenko Group’s’ acquisition of SunEdison’s India portfolio, and the merger of Orient Green Power Co. Ltd and IL&FS Wind Energy.

[Graphic: Naveen Kumai Saini/Mint]
Click here for enlarge

Preference for greenfield projects and troubled balance sheets in their home markets are seen as two reasons why foreign investors have not been active in the M&A market for renewable energy.

“With many of the foreign strategics, there has been a much larger preference for organic build-out for their businesses, because they believe that they have much better control over the assets, both from an operational perspective and from an implementation perspective,” said Kaustubh Kulkarni, managing director and head of investment banking at J.P. Morgan India Pvt. Ltd.

Strategic investors also feel that given the renewable targets in the country, there was good visibility of new projects of meaningful size to be awarded for a sustained period of time, and given that they have built teams and capabilities to develop these projects, there was a tendency to prefer participating in bids and winning projects on their own rather than going after somebody else’s portfolio, Kulkarni added.

In India, the opportunity to scale up is significant, with the government targeting to achieve 175GW of renewable energy generation by 2022.

Preference for greenfield development also stems from lower cost effectiveness of acquisitions and a shortage of assets of meaningful size, experts said.

“Given the significant drop in the capital outlay of the new projects, strategics believe they could end up owning a larger portfolio with a similar outlay and hence have been focusing on organic growth. Also, not many portfolios of decent size are available to strategic acquirers,” said Sudhir Dash, managing director at investment banking firm Investec Capital Services (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Another reason holding back foreign strategic investors is the structural issues back home.

“Europe, over the last 10-15 years, had structured itself for a significant part of electricity generation through renewables with the gas-based power plants meant to support and balance the intermittent renewable sources. However, given the lack of local gas resources and how the relative pricing with coal has developed, a number of gas power plants have become unviable,” said Rahul Mody, managing director, Ambit Corporate Finance.

This, in turn, has dampened their ability to make large deals overseas.

In Europe, companies have built tens of gigawatts of gas-based power plants, many of which are stranded or are operating at low capacity levels, leading to large write-offs at utilities, he said.

“These challenges in their home markets have restricted their ability for M&As,” Ambit Corporate Finance’s Mody added.

However, some believe that going ahead, foreign strategic investors could become more open to M&As given the pressure to scale up.

“For many foreign strategics, M&A is a secondary strategy which is typically pursued to complement greenfield development. Given the limited supply of organic opportunities compared to the demand in recent auctions, the greenfield approach has been slower to materialize than expected. These groups are increasingly open to evaluating acquisitions and we expect this trend to continue given the pressure to scale,” said Rahul Goswami, managing director at Greenstone Energy Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a boutique advisory firm.
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/Q5...giving-MA-deals-in-Indias-renewable-ener.html

UK's CDC Group Invests Heavily In India's Renewable Energy Projects
India's renewable energy sector just got bigger thanks to an investment from U.K.-owned CDC Group of up to $100 million to support renewable energy projects.

The announcement was made by the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy Greg Clark at the inaugural India-U.K. Energy for Growth Dialogue in New Delhi on April 6. He also met with India's Minister for Power, New & Renewable Energy, Coal and Mines, Piyush Goyal, to talk about large-scale, private sector investments between the two countries in the area of energy.

The two ministers agreed that on the power and renewables front, the focus will be on the introduction of performance-improving smart technologies, energy efficiency and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy.

For some time now, CDC Group Plc, the U.K. government's development finance institution, has made its known that it seeks to set up its own renewable energy platform focused on the eastern part of India, and even neighboring countries such as Bangladesh.

The finance institution is contemplating leveraging its experience in running Globeleq Africa, a company in which it acquired a majority stake in 2015, for green energy investments in Asia. Globeleq has a 1,200-megawatt gren power generation capacity spread across Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

As reported by MetalMiner, India aims to generate over half of its electricity through renewable and nuclear energy by 2027. The world's largest democracy published a draft 10-year national electricity plan in December, which said it aimed to generate 275 gigawatts of renewable energy, and about 85 gw of other non-fossil fuel power such as nuclear energy, by the next decade. This would make up 57% of the country's total electricity capacity by 2027, more than meeting its commitment to the Paris Agreement of generating 40% of its power through non-fossil fuel means by 2030.

India has been taking massive forward strides in the renewable energy sector. Already, as per one estimate, it is set to overtake Japan as the world's third-largest solar power market in 2017. Taiwanese research firm EnergyTrend predicted that the global solar photovoltaic demand was expected to remain stable at 74 gw in 2017, with the Indian market experiencing sustained growth. The country was expected to add 14% to the global solar photovoltaic demand, the equivalent of the addition of 90 gw over the next five years.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/40...ests-heavily-indias-renewable-energy-projects

 

[RISING SUN]

India moving forward to become major destination for FDI: US trade official
India, with a young skilled workforce, high growth rate and deregulation being undertaken by the government, is set to become an important destination for foreign investment, a former top US trade official has said.

"With the young skilled workforce, its growth rate that is going to surpass China for the coming years, as well as the market opening and deregulation undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will make this a really important destination for foreign investment," Wendy Cutler, who was the Acting Deputy US Trade Representative under Obama administration told a Washington audience yesterday.

Speaking at a panel discussion on the occasion of the launch of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, Cutler said, India under Modi has emerged as among the favourite destinations for foreign investors.

For the second consecutive year, India appears in top 10 of the index. This year, it was placed at the eighth spot as against ninth last year.

China has slipped to the third spot. Germany has now become the second top destination in the FDI Confidence Index after the US, which takes the fifth spot for the fifth year in a row.
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"Five of the top 10 countries are from Asia. There is a lot of optimism about investment opportunities in Asia, not only among Asian but also global investors as well. Clearly, China and India seems to be the cause of this lot of optimism. India moved eighth on the index," she said.

Cutler said the optimism about investment in China "does not seem to be in line from what we are hearing" from not only the US business community but also the European business community as well.

In her previous stint in the United States Trade Representative, she was responsible for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), US-China trade relations and US-India Trade Policy Forum.

"The investment climate is getting worse in China. Companies are facing a lot of restrictions in China, whether it be licensing or approval process or favourable treatment of domestic competitors or requirements to share technology. We are hearing from our companies that their optimism is declining," Cutler said.

Noting that the Chinese FDI in the US and vice versa should be watched closely, she said there is a growing concern that while the US and foreign companies are facing restrictions in China, there is a feeling that Chinese companies face few restrictions here in the US.

"India, on the other hand, is moving towards becoming a favourite FDI destination," she said.

"When you loom at India, it is moving from a closed market to an open market. The reforms that are being undertaken are perhaps not as ambitious as one would hope for. But under Prime Minister Modi, India is really under track towards the opening," she said.

Contrasting India, a little bit with China, Cutler said that China was really open to foreign direct investment.

"But we are seeing that trend going in a different direction," Cutler said.

"The other thing that makes me think very favourably about India is that it does not face the same demographic challenges that many Asian countries face. India with most of its population under 40 offers a very attractive destination, coupled with the high skilled nature of the workforce," she said.

However, she said India is "one of the difficult countries" to negotiate.

"So while all these developments are positive, they have a way to go here, but they are moving in the right direction," Cutler said.

Global Business Policy Council chairman Paul Laudicina said that India's youth population gives India wage price advantage over China.

In China, average manufacturing wages have tripled between 2006 and 2015.

"This is part of the reason that coupled with a robust growth, a huge internal market, Modi government's attempt to promote investment, the intention to abolish the foreign investment promotion board, access to the retail sector is being made more accessible. All of this makes India a robust environment," he said.
http://m.economictimes.com/news/eco...di-us-trade-official/articleshow/58255752.cms

In 10 years, half of India's energy capacity will be from non-fossil fuel sources
Non-fossil fuels -- renewables, nuclear and large hydroelectric power plants -- will account for more than half (56.5 per cent) of India's installed power capacity by 2027, according to a draft of the third National Electricity Plan (NEP3).
The draft notes that if India achieves its target to install 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 -- as committed under the 2015 Paris Agreement -- it will not need to install, at least until 2027, any more coal-fired capacity than the 50 GW currently under construction.
The Ministry of Power produces a National Electricity Plan every five years, in which it reviews the progress made over the previous five years, and sets out a detailed action plan for the next 10 with the overarching aim of achieving universal access to electricity and ensuring that power is supplied efficiently and at reasonable prices.
NEP3 outlines how the government expects the electricity sector to develop over the five years from 2017 to 2022, as well as the subsequent five years to 2027.

When the draft was released, India had installed just over 50 GW of renewable power capacity, of which wind energy made up 57.4 per cent and solar 18 per cent. This gave renewables a 15 per cent share in total installed capacity of just over 314 GW, while coal made up 60 per cent -- the remaining being large hydropower, nuclear, gas and diesel.
Renewables will have to scale rapidly to meet a national target set in 2015 to increase capacity to 175 GW by 2022 -- 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind and the remainder from sundry smaller sources such as biofuels and biomass.

NEP3 projects that not only will the 2022 target be achieved, renewable power capacity will reach 275 GW in 2027. This is three times the projection made in NEP2, of 70 GW, and significantly more ambitious than publicly proclaimed targets.
Comparing NEP3 with India's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) under the Paris Agreement reached at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015 shows a higher level of ambition to reach a low-carbon economy faster.

In its INDC, India had said it planned to achieve 40 per cent cumulative installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
NEP3 is significantly more upbeat, predicting that non-fossil power will make up 46.8 per cent of total installed capacity by 2021-22 and 56.5 per cent by 2027 -- 10 years from now. If the NEP3 target is met as per the projected timelines, total installed renewable capacity will surpass coal-based capacity around 2024.

Such ambitions are underpinned by the rapidly changing economics of wind and solar, whose price is falling rapidly.
In February 2017, solar power was auctioned at a record low of Rs 2.97-Rs 2.979 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Soon after, in auctions for wind power projects in March 2017, the winning bid quoted an all-time low price of Rs 3.46/kWh. Solar and wind are expected to reach grid parity -- when they cost as much as conventional power -- in the near future, perhaps as early as next year.
As for other zero-emission sources like nuclear and large hydropower, NEP3 projects an addition of 7.6 GW of nuclear and 27.3 GW of large hydroelectricity capacity up to 2027, up from 6.7 GW and 44.4 GW of hydro installed as of March 2016, as ongoing and approved projects come online during 2017-22.
As per NEP3 projections, the 2022-27 period would require an addition of about 44 GW of coal-based capacity to meet projected demand, a requirement that would be adequately met by the 50 GW that will come online during 2017-22. This leaves India with 6 GW of extra capacity.

The NEP's projections for coal are different from INDC, which suggested the country would require 100 GW, and perhaps as much as 300 GW, of additional coal-fired capacity by 2030.

The downgrading of coal expansion is not unexpected because rapid expansion of renewables means fossil fuel-based power plants are already under-utilised.
NEP3 shows the average coal plant load factor -- a measure of how much plants are used -- has fallen from around 70 per cent to just over 62 per cent in the last four years, an "exceptionally low" level, according to the Economic Survey 2016-17.

While renewable capacity is rising globally, developing countries including India are widely expected to continue using cheap coal. The International Energy Agency (IEA), an intergovernmental organisation that provides key information and statistics about the oil and energy markets, has forecast that India would witness massive growth in coal-fired capacity, with 438 GW of cumulative capacity by 2040, assuming India's power system would quadruple in size to keep up with demand increasing by five per cent every year.
NEP3 agrees with the IEA's projections about growth in India's coal capacity up to 2022, reflecting the 50 GW of capacity currently under construction, but suggests the IEA's projections for the post-2022 scenario -- made just two years ago -- may need to be adjusted downwards.
The current NEP concerns itself with the next 10 years only, but if the current trend of falling renewable power prices continues and India remains committed to cutting emissions, the country may well beat IEA forecasts while upholding and perhaps surpassing its INDC.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...uel-sources/articleshow/58256211.cms?from=mdr

Apple to start 'trial assembly' of iPhones in India next month
Apple Inc, is expected to start “trial assembly” of iPhones in India next month regardless of the outcome of its requests for certain concessions from the central government, according to state officials in Karnataka.

Taiwanese original design manufacturer Wistron — with which Apple has a contract — will begin assembling the iconic phones at its unit in a Bengaluru suburb, the officials told ET.

The state has also been pursuing Apple’s case with the Centre.

“We are working to see that (Apple) brings its entire componentmaking ecosystem to Bengaluru and begins to export from here,” one of the officials said. “We are not much concerned about Apple making iPhones for the domestic market, which will happen anyway.”

The Cupertino-based technology major has been lobbying hard with the union government to get some additional sops over and above what the country’s foreign investment policies allow. This includes the waiver of countervailing duty (CVD) on import of components that go into the making of iPhones.
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“The application (of Apple) has not made much headway after passing through key ministries such as commerce, technology and finance,” according to a Karnataka government official who is of the view that the Centre may be concerned that such a waiver will not fit into the framework of the proposed goods and services tax that is expected to be rolled out from July 1.

He expects Apple will pursue its requests with the Centre independent of its Bengaluru plans “because India is a market it can ill-afford to ignore at this point”.

Apple, Wistron and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion didn’t reply to email queries from ET on the developments. Wistron will begin assembling iPhones from its existing facility in the manufacturing hub of Peenya, in west Bengaluru.

It is expected to also establish brand new facilities for component manufacturing at a second location later.

Karnataka’s industries minister RV Deshpande said he discussed Apple’s issues with Union minsters Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Seetharaman more than once in recent months. “They assured me they will do whatever is possible,” he said.

Karnataka’s information technology minister Priyank Kharge told ET that the Centre must encourage high-end tech manufacturing if it is serious about “Make in India.”

As the Indian ecosystem is still not developed enough to provide high-precision components, the Centre “must first let Apple and other global technology companies start somewhere,” Kharge said.

Such concessions could be subject to these companies manufacturing components locally and also sourcing them from the domestic market within a specified period of time, he added.

“What India is battling today is akin to the chicken and egg question,” said Kharge.
http://m.economictimes.com/tech/har...-in-india-next-month/articleshow/58269792.cms

India jumps to 8th place on Global FDI Confidence Index
India has jumped one spot to rank 8th in the 2017 AT Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index with 31 percent of the surveyed respondents being more optimistic on economic outlook over the next three years.

"Investors see India as a vast and diverse up-and-coming market with plans to increase investments there over the near to medium term," said Vikas Kaushal, Partner and Head of India at AT Kearney.

Investor confidence in India has been growing steadily over the last two years, making it one of the top two emerging market performers on the FDI Index, said the UK-based AT Kearney in the index.

"Reform efforts by the current government have improved the country's investment environment. This includes the national goods and service tax (GST) reform, the largest non- direct tax reform in India in recent years," Vikas said.

"India's vast domestic market is an added attraction for foreign companies. Investors are looking at India's phenomenal economic performance as a key selling point.

"It is forecast to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world in the coming years, which should provide a variety of investment opportunities to global firms," he said.

Among the investors surveyed, over half said a successful GST implementation would cause them to significantly or moderately increase their investment in India.

More broadly, 70 percent of the respondents plan to maintain or increase their FDI in India in the coming years, according to Kearney.

India's government is considering further policy reforms to further boost FDI inflows. A proposal to loosen FDI regulations on the retail sector is being evaluated, in part to support the country's 'Make in India' initiative and bolster the manufacturing industry, said the consultancy.
The government is eliminating the need for FDI approvals in sectors where licenses are also required, such as defence, telecommunications and broadcasting.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...e-on-global-fdi-confidence-index-2260509.html

 

[Skull and Bones]

Indian foreign reserve is at record high.

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...by-889-4-mn-to-369-887-bn-117042100927_1.html

I hope it touches 400 billion by the end of the year.

 

[RISING SUN]

Cisco eyes India as global export hub
Network equipment maker Cisco said it wants to make India a global export hub for its hardware products and is working with its global component making partners so that they too set up shop in the country to facilitate this plan.
The $50-billion company, for whom India has been one of the best-performing countries globally over the past four-five quarters, launched its first Made-in India product last month, a router, one of the most popular products in its portfolio globally.
"We are working with the global ecosystem providers to set up shop in India and as they start moving in, costs will be less as we will not have to import the same components that are needed to manufacture the product," Dinesh Malkani, president of Cisco India and Saarc told TOI.
Malkani said he was bullish about manufacturing in India, given policy changes lately. "The government has made progress, it is collaborative, and GST will simplify the process. What we need is to encourage industries such as the chipmakers to set up shop," he said.
The router, one of the six products that Cisco has planned to make in India from its manufacturing base in Pune, is expected to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) across multiple industries.SMBs make up about 20% of Cisco's business in the country and the company claims it to be the fastest growing.
For SMBs, the company has launched Cisco Start, a small kit priced at about Rs 5,000 to help digitise their businesses. "We have established proper distribution in the country through tier-1 resellers, trained and certified them and set up an India supply chain through distributors so that we can reach out to the smallest SMBs and provide them collaboration tools, contacts, networks, security and servers," Malkani said.
Cisco manages deep engagements with six-seven states across 50 projects under its Country Digitisation Acceleration programme. It has set up six innovation centres in Bengaluru, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Jaipur and Gujarat to co-innovate with customers, startups and partners to build new solutions and products.
The company , which files two patents per week in India, also started a Cyber Range Lab in Gurugram, to provide highly specialised technical training workshops to help security staff build the skills and experience necessary to combat new-age threats. It has similar such centres in US, Poland and Japan.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/58234681.cms?from=mdr

Mandatory code for doctors to ensure generics get precedence over branded drugs
Moving to give teeth to PM Narendra Modi's announcement that doctors will need to prescribe generic drugs rather than more expensive branded ones, the government will come out with a mandatory code on marketing practices to ensure doctors and pharmacists follow the rule.

The code is aimed at making the drug supply chain involving pharmaceutical companies, distributors, retailers and doctors accountable to the proposed marketing code which has been given in-principle approval by the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP). The code is being vetted by the law ministry.

Violation of the code will carry penalties that can range from a warning to cancellation of licence depending on the seriousness of the offence. The government proposes that multiple laws can be invoked to punish offenders.

The Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) will be legally binding on all stakeholders through an executive order. "Once the law ministry approves the code, there will be a final round of public comments on the draft before issuance of the final gazette notification," DoP secretary J P Prakash told TOI.

The decision will be an important step as so far the marketing code is "voluntary" and applies only to the pharma industry. Once the executive order is issued by DoP, the code will be binding and its violation will attract punishment and penalty under the Essential Commodities Act, the Indian Medical Council Act as well as Drugs & Cosmetics Act.

DoP has already consulted health ministry and Medical Council of India on the decision.

Modi has on Monday said the government is working to bring in a legal framework under which doctors will have to prescribe low cost generic medicines to patients.

The PM's statement raised concerns among many about how this could be done without tapping other parts of the supply chain including pharmacists and distributors, who often push drugs with higher margins.

However, senior officials in the government suggested the PM's statement was supported by a multi-pronged strategy already in the works under different ministries and departments and changes to relevant laws.

Apart from DoP, the health ministry, the central drug regulator - Drugs Controller General of India, , the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and the Medical Council of India have been tasked to strengthen different laws and regulations to ensure consumers can be empowered to make informed choices.

The NPPA is also trying to cap trade margins for not only branded generics but also "generic generic" drugs. The latter are drugs being sold only as the chemical formulation that are not currently capped.

Similarly, health ministry has asked MCI to enforce the order it issued in October and make it mandatory for doctors under the law to write the generic name of drugs in legible handwriting. "We have asked MCI to ensure that doctors who are not doing so are punished under the law," a health ministry official said, adding it has also written to state authorities to enforce it by proper monitoring.

It is also trying to ensure consumers can distinguish between generic names and branded names by asking companies to conspicuously mention generic name on packs. While earlier most of the attempts were in the form of advisories and guidelines, with new provisions any violation will be punishable with hefty penalties and even amount to cancellation of licences for doctors, manufacturers and pharmacists.
Apart from the supply chain, the DCGI has also issued orders to state drug regulators to grant manufacturing licences to companies only based on generic names of their products, instead of brands. This is being seen by many as an attempt to promote generic drugs.


Estimates show more than 70% of the over Rs 1 lakh crore domestic pharmaceutical market is dominated by branded generics, whereas 9% is patented drugs.
Despite stringent price control, big pharma companies manage to spend exorbitantly on marketing and branding of their drugs. Since advertisement of prescription medicines are not allowed in India, companies or medical representatives push their products through doctors, chemists and distributors in lieu of freebies, junkets and incentives. While generic medicines are good quality low cost drugs with equal efficacy as that of branded drugs, in the absence of proper knowledge consumers often tend to go by what doctors and chemists decide for them.


The government's move assumes significance as medicines account for 70-75% of a household's out of pocket expenditure on health.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...anded-drugs/articleshow/58270497.cms?from=mdr

 

[Robinhood Pandey]

Indian foreign reserve is at record high.

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...by-889-4-mn-to-369-887-bn-117042100927_1.html

I hope it touches 400 billion by the end of the year.

All thanks to lower oil prices.
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oh wait. . . thats an ages old joke now

 

[RISING SUN]

India plans home delivery of Petroleum product
India is world's 3rd largest consumer of Petroleum product and approx 35 million people stand in que for it everyday on Petroleum product stations all across the country. There are 38000 station in India at present. This might help government in cashless transactions as well.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...e-delivery-of-petroleum-products-2263369.html

India tops global remittance for FY 2016 with 62.7 billion dollars followed by PRC and Phillipines. More details in link.
http://m.timesofindia.com/business/...n-in-2016-world-bank/articleshow/58302262.cms

 

[RISING SUN]

Indian real estate-The impact of transit oriented development
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...-of-transit-oriented-development-2261369.html
Lot of interesting things in link.
429 million Urban population.

 

[RISING SUN]

Railways to increase 3AC coaches in long distance trains
The railways will increase 3AC coaches in long distance trains to cater to the growing demand for air-conditioned coaches. Railway data shows that between April 1, 2016 and March 10, 2017, 3AC coaches carried 17 per cent of all passengers in long-distance trains which accounted for 32.60 per cent of all the earnings from passenger fares. The data shows increasing demand for 3AC class with passenger share rising from 16.69 per cent last year to 17.15 per cent, and passenger earnings increasing from 32.60 per cent last year to 33.65 per cent between April 1, 2016 and March 10, 2017.

Sleeper class carried 59.78 per cent passengers and contributed about 44.78 per cent of passenger earnings. Last year the share of sleeper coaches was over 60 per cent of passengers and 45.94 per cent of earnings. The predominance of sleeper passengers is showing a downward trend as more and more passengers are opting for 3AC class, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The official said a decision has been taken to augment 3AC coaches gradually in some long distance trains. The railways recently launched the Hamsafar Express with 3AC class only and results are positive.
http://indianexpress.com/article/in...-3ac-coaches-in-long-distance-trains-4623500/

 

[RISING SUN]

Suzuki, Toshiba, Denso to make lithium-ion cells in India
Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Denso Corporationhave agreed to manufacture lithium-ion battery packs in India. The three Japanese majors have reached a basic agreement for establishing a joint venture company for the production of automotive lithium-ion battery packs in India, Suzuki said in a statement on Friday.

The initial capital expenditure will be 20 billion Japanese yen (around ₹1,200 crore). The joint venture company will be capitalised at 2 billion Japanese yen, with the planned participation ratio of Suzuki 50 per cent, Toshiba 40 per cent and Denso 10 per cent, it said.

“The battery pack manufacturing joint venture by the three companies will realise stable supply of lithium-ion battery packs in India in the course of promoting sustainable cars in the country and will contribute to ‘Make in India’ initiative by the Indian Government,” the company said.

“In the Indian automotive market where compact cars are the mainstream models, introduction of sustainable technology suitable for such affordable cars is required,” the parent company of Maruti Suzuki India said.

The joint venture company will be established in 2017 and shall move to the manufacturing phase as early as possible, it said.

According to industry veterans, such a tie-up would be a big boost to the Indian automotive infrastructure when a lot of companies are considering manufacturing electric vehicles.

Companies like Mahindra & Mahindra, which makes electric vehicles, is now working on its existing vehicles and the government is also promoting the faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles in India (FAME scheme) which has four focus areas including technology development, demand creation, pilot projects and charging infrastructure.

Interestingly, the government has also recently asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to allow private manufacturers who are interested in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries to obtain technology from it. ISRO is expected to come out with a framework on that shortly.
http://m.thehindubusinessline.com/c...g-lithiumion-battery-packs/article9639460.ece

 

[RISING SUN]

India ranks 43rd in Global Connectivity Index study
Digitally-developed economies around the globe are continuing to progress due to larger investments and adoptions in Information Communication Technology, says the just-released Huawei Global Connectivity Index (GCI) 2017. The study also finds developing economies have started to accelerate their growth by investing strategically in ICT capabilities - yet the gap between them and continues to grow.

This is the fourth annual GCI study that shows how countries are progressing with digital transformation based on 40 unique indicators that cover five technology enablers: broadband, data centers, cloud, big data and Internet of Things. US tops the list with Singapore and Sweden a close second and third. India performs well on the key indicators of a knowledge economy but falls behind in its broadband assessments - giving it an overall rank of 43- sandwiched between Venezuela and Morocco Listing the positives for India which has climbed one rank from last year, the report observes: "The government is planning to provide high-speed internet connectivity to 250,000 communities. The citizens will be provided with a digital identity which will be unique, lifelong, online, and valid. Government departments will be seamlessly integrated with high-speed optical fiber, which will improve inter operability of these organizations and will result in real-time service delivery from online or mobile platform. This would stimulate the development of cloud for easy and portable connections for citizens." Commenting on the release of the report, Mr. Jay Chen, CEO, Huawei Telecommunications India, said, "The report highlights that there has been a substantial growth in penetration of ICT infrastructure in India. In addition to encouraging development of a vibrant gig-economy, ICT Infrastructure is a powerful engine to upskill the majority of a nation's workforce with the digital skills needed for jobs of the future." "It is encouraging to note that over the past 3 years, India has grown faster in ICT infrastructure compared to its global peers including 1.4 times faster growth in investment in cloud, 2.3 times growth in computer households and 1.1 times in Analytics Data Creation per capita," he added


GCI 2017 study reported the relationship between ICT investment and GDP growth is generally accepted in government and industry. Examining the GCI 2017 data with numerous economic forecasting models, the report says a nation which increased investment in ICT investment in infrastructure by additional 10% annually from 2017 to 2025 can benefit from a multiplier effect. "Using this economic impact model we find that every additional US$1 of ICT infrastructure investment could bring a return of US$3 in GDP at present, US$3.70 in 2020 and the potential return increases to US$5 in 2025," the report says.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...index-study/articleshow/58243464.cms?from=mdr

 

[RISING SUN]

Nissan considering Leaf electric car for India: Report
India's automobile industry has been on an upswing in recent times. With SUVs and hatchbacks selling like hot cakes, not many automakers have felt the need to bring in electric cars they offer elsewhere. That may change with Nissan reportedly considering Leaf - its much acclaimed and highly appreciated electric car - for India.

According to a media report, the Japanese automaker plans to work with government agencies and private sector companies this year to study if there is a viable market for electric vehicles in the country. A company official has also been quoted as saying that the "Nissan Leaf will be part of the pilot project."
The Leaf has been a highly successful model for Nissan - especially in the Japanese and American market. The car is a five-door hatchback that claims to run for 107 miles (170 kms) on a single charge - higher models can reportedly even cover up to 155 miles (250kms). It can be re-charged at home and in western countries, it can also be powered through electric outlets on the road.

Of course, India still has a considerable way to go before it makes electric-car charging points a common sight on city and highway roads here. At its heart is a 107bhp electric motor and the Leaf is 4445mm long, 1770mm in width and 1550mm tall. Only for reference purposes, Hyundai's Elite i20 has a length of 3985mm, width of 1734mm and is 1505mm tall.


India's green and clean energy scenario is still rather grey with Mahindra and Mahindra, and Toyota Kirloskar Motors being the players of note. With an aim to promote eco-friendly vehicles, the government had launched the FAME India scheme in 2015 offering incentives on electric and hybrid vehicles of up to Rs 29,000 for bikes and Rs 1.38 lakh for cars. However, challenges at the ground level remain in a country where air pollution has emerged as one of the biggest causes for deaths.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ndia-report/articleshow/58233723.cms?from=mdr

India eases rules to allow merger of Indian companies with foreign firms
India will allow local companies to merge with overseas firms, easing rules to help home-grown businesses restructure their expanding global operations, and pave the deck for more listings of securities on capital markets abroad. "Until now, only inbound mergers were permitted. With outbound mergers now permissible, there would be a lot of opportunities for Indian companies to acquire, restructure, or list on offshore exchanges as well," said Mehul Shah, a partner at Khaitan and co. Until the federal notification by the corporate affairs ministry on April 13, India had permitted only inbound mergers. The merger would be in compliance with the Companies Act, 2013, and require prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The notification also lists certain jurisdictions on the foreign companies, covering countries that comply with rules such as being members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and whose central banks are members of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Experts, however, believe that certain related laws must be amended before these rules take effect. "There would be need to have clarifications under tax laws. Exchange control regulations need to be relooked and clarified to give effect to this notification. Also, an obligation is cast on RBI to provide approval for these mergers, as today, the RBI does not have mechanisms in place for this," Shah added.
"Now exchange control regulations, securities laws, etc will need to be amended to facilitate a practical implementation of the amended law," said Amit Maru, partner-transaction tax at EY.
The notification amends the Companies (Compromises, Arrangements and Amalgamations) Rules, 2016, notified in December 2016. Previously, mergers or demergers were governed by the Companies Act, 1956 before the notification of provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. But, there were some gaps in the rules governing mergers. The latest notification seeks to fill these gaps. For instance, the law was earlier unclear on prior RBI approval even for inbound mergers, it is now clear that the nod is necessary.
"It might take some time for an Indian company to merge into a foreign company as it is not only one law but a host of laws which have to be amended before this becomes operational. For instance, income tax laws will have to be amended to give you a tax-neutral merger status because all mergers today are otherwise tax-neutral." said Maru. The government had recently exempted firms, with Indian revenue of less than Rs 1,000 crore, from seeking the prior approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) while going in for a merger.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...eign-firms/articleshow/58249903.cms?from=mdra

 

[RISING SUN]

India may soon come up with a pact to get details of fund diversion via Dubai, Gulf nations
The government proposes to clinch information-sharing agreements with key Middle East countries as evidence mounts of local promoters using Gulf countries to initiate questionable transactions and siphon off money.

Top government officials told ET that work is under way on an agreement that would help secure financial records and other details about firms owned or set up by Indian promoters or firms and operating in those countries.

The decision has been spurred by investigations into loan defaults in India uncovering suspicious transactions of money being routed to offshore shell companies or accounts based in the Middle East, official say. These accounts or shell companies operate in places such as the Dubai Free Trade Zone or other similar havens. Information is often hard to obtain from companies based here.

Industry experts say that an information exchange agreement would mean that Indian investigating agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) would be able to get access to information about suspect shell companies that could help investigations.
http://m.economictimes.com/news/eco...a-dubai-gulf-nations/articleshow/58306603.cms

Thailand expects to host 12 lakh tourists from India in 2017
Thailand, the South Asian country mainly known for its tropical beaches and cuisine, is eyeing 12 lakh travellers from India this year.
"We hosted 11.8 lakh tourists from India in 2016. This year looks promising and we are expecting to host 12 lakh travellers from India," Tourism Authority of Thailand's (TAT) Deputy Governor for International Marketing (Asia and the South Pacific) Srisuda Wanapinyosak told PTI here. She said TAT is promoting Thailand as an affordable destination for families, women travellers, adventure and sports lovers and honeymooners.

"There is no particular age group that we cater to. However, we cater to various segments which include families, destination weddings, women travellers, adventure and sports lovers, honeymooners, and also the luxury segment," she said. "We want to promote Thailand as a 'preferred destination' and also as an 'affordable luxury destination'," she said.

The travellers, of all age groups and backgrounds, can have a great journey across the country by joining in the traditional Thai practices or exploring the legacy of late King Rama IX, Wanapinyosak said. The direct connectivity between both the countries also helps in boosting tourism in Thailand, she said. "We have direct flights from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi. From Mumbai there 10 Thai Airways flights a week, seven flights each of Bangkok Airlines and Air India in a week and 21 Jet Airways flights," she said.
"Apart from this, the Garuda Indonesia is operating flights from Mumbai to Jakarta with a stopover in Bangkok. This certainly helps boost tourism in Thailand," she added. said.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...dia-in-2017/articleshow/58324676.cms?from=mdr

Forces may buy govt’s excess pulse stock
Stuck with nearly 20 lakh tonnes of pulses and with states showing little interest to offtake the kitchen staple, the Centre is considering options to release them quickly.
Sources said the defence and paramilitary forces will pick up about 1 lakh tonnes for consumption of their personnel.


Among the other options being considered is tapping major chains of residential schools such as Navodaya Vidyalayas, though their requirement is much less.
Officials said some of the states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab are taking pulses from the central buffer for their respective schemes of providing pulses to people as a part of their public distribution scheme (PDS). However, sources admitted the Centre has been taken aback by the low priority accorded by most states to pick up pulses at subsidised rates from the buffer stock. "Most of them blamed the central government for rising prices and even raised the demand to push procurement of pulses from farmers. But now there is lukewarm response from them to pick up the stock," said a source.


The Centre has created the buffer stock by procuring pulses directly from farmers and through import. Nearly half of it is arhar. Government agencies had kicked off largescale procurement and import of pulses from farmers after arhar prices had crossed Rs 200 per kg mark one-and-a-half years back. Sources said the defence and paramilitary forces have already approved their annual demand. "There is no issue with regard to at what price pulses will be released or sold to defence and paramilitary forces or the state governments since these are being at government-to-government level. We will dispose off the pulses in time and there is no question of allowing any quantity to go waste," a senior central government official said. Meanwhile, government agencies such as Nafed, FCI and SFAC are selling pulses through their stores and online multi-commodity exchange, NCDEX.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...pulse-stock/articleshow/58321533.cms?from=mdr

Mumbaikars now pay highest price for petrol in country
With the Rs 3 increase in drought cess, collected along with VAT from Friday midnight, Mumbaikars now pay the highest price for petrol in the country. Petrol now costs Rs 77.45 per litre in the city, while it's around Rs 77.14 in Nagpur— both higher than in Bhopal, which till Friday had the country's highest rate at Rs 75.85.

In comparison, it's nearly Rs 10 less in Delhi at Rs 68.26.

Incidentally, the drought cess collected all over Maharashtra has been increased to Rs 9 from Rs 6 at a time when there's no drought in the state, thanks to abundant rainfall last monsoon. Sources say revenue collected may instead help the state government offset loss in income due to shuttering of bars and liquor vends along highways.

The drought cess apart, fuel price variation between different regions is also due to a lack of uniformity in VAT. But the differential is not on an inter-state basis alone. Within Maharashtra, the Mumbai-Thane-Navi Mumbai belt pays a peak VAT rate of 26% while the rest of the state pays around 25%. So other cities in the state have marginally lower prices for petrol.

A dealer in Mumbai said, "Though prices have been fluctuating, petrol has become costlier by Rs 7-8 per litre in the past one year."

If the state government withdraws the drought cess, petrol price in Maharashtra will be lower than in other states as this cess is not collected anywhere else."

By hiking the cess, the government of Maharashtra has essentially refused to pass on the benefits from the Rs 3.77 cut in petrol price by the Centre on April 1. Consumers in other states continue to enjoy lower rates.
At least 223 of the 235 petrol pumps in the city have decided to remain closed on Sundays starting May 14 to press for their demands. Dealers said the Rs 3 increase will not in any way benefit them. They are demanding a 75 paise per litre hike in commission. Around 4,700 fuel dealers across the state, barring a few in Pune, have decided to join other seven states —Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry —in an agitation demanding margins.
At least 223 of the 235 petrol pumps in the city have decided to remain closed on Sundays starting May 14 to press for their demands. Dealers said the Rs 3 increase will not in any way benefit them. They are demanding a 75 paise per litre hike in commission. Around 4,700 fuel dealers across the state, barring a few in Pune, have decided to join other seven states —Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry —in an agitation demanding margins.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...etrol-in-the-country/articleshow/58321290.cms

Ikea plans to double product sourcing from India by 2020
Almhult (Sweden): Ikea is sharpening India focus as it plans to double sourcing from the Indian market to €600 million by 2020 and will start work on its second store in the country in Navi Mumbai next month.

Ikea’s first store in India will come up in Hyderabad later this year.

The global home furnishing giant from Sweden sources products worth €318 million from India.

Ikea working on lower pricing for India stores

“Ikea works on the principle of optimal sourcing for our global markets. Where it makes sense, we will source locally as well. We currently source products worth €318 million from India and will almost double this by 2020 to around €600 million,” Henrik Gunnerling, purchase development manager, Ikea range and supply, told PTI in Sweden.

On Indian operations, Ikea said it will begin work on its second store in Navi Mumbai next month with an investment of about Rs700 crore. The ground-breaking ceremony will be held next month and the store is expected to be operational by the middle of 2018, according to the company executives, who spoke of plans to open a large distribution centre in Pune.

“Maharashtra will be one of the key markets for us, and we have plans to open 5-6 stores across the state, going forward,” Patrik Antoni, deputy country manager for Ikea India, told PTI in Sweden at the headquarters of the world’s largest furniture retailer.

“We are also planning to open a large distribution centre in Pune,” he added. Ikea had purchased 23 acres in Mumbai last year to set up its store. With a built-up space of about 4.3 lakh sq ft, the Navi Mumbai store will have over 9,500 home furnishing products as well as an in-store restaurant. Ikea’s first store will come up in Hyderabad later this year, and it is in the process of identifying sites in Delhi- NCR, Bengaluru, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, Antoni said.

Ikea has a target of opening 25 stores in India by 2025 at an investment of Rs10,500 crore. Every Ikea store will hire 500-700 direct co-workers and another 1,500 will be engaged in providing services around the store. It has also committed that 50% of its workforce will be women.

India’s modern retail policy requires 30% local sourcing, preferably from small enterprises. “India has a lot of potential. We have about 50 suppliers at present and have added 15 last year,” Sandeep Sanan, new business manager, purchasing operations for Ikea South Asia, said.

Sanan added: “We are looking for new suppliers and also to give them assistance to grow their business. Many new suppliers will come from other segments who are looking to diversify their business.” Ikea is adding suppliers to existing categories like textiles and rugs as well as new home furnishing like furniture and mattresses. It is also honing suppliers for categories like metals, plastics, and lighting.

About 70% of its export from India is textiles while the rest includes items like sofas, mattresses, and kitchen accessories. Ikea is also looking at sourcing different kinds of wood for its furniture, including sustainable materials like bamboos and acacia, Sanan said.
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/ai...uble-product-sourcing-from-India-by-2020.html

 

[Hindustani78]

The Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha witnessing the signing of a tripartite MoU between Department of Posts, BBNL & BSNL for providing service of Bharat Net to Department of Posts, in New Delhi on April 28, 2017.

The Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha addressing at the signing ceremony of a tripartite MoU between Department of Posts, BBNL & BSNL for providing service of Bharat Net to Department of Posts, in New Delhi on April 28, 2017.