Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Ecstacy]

Education cess to boost IITs, IIMs​

New Delhi: After lying unspent for three years, the money collected from the proceeds of higher education cess would now be utilised for several schemes, including setting up of a finance corporation and for strengthening IITs and IIMs.

Government has collected Rs 8,334 crore so far as secondary and higher education cess from April one, 2007.

However, this money has remained unspent and is lying with the Finance Ministry, official sources said.

The HRD Ministry has drawn up a plan to utilise the money by creating a single and non-lapsable corpus fund for secondary and higher education.

Part of the money will be utilised for the proposed National Higher Education Finance Corporation (NHEFC) which will be mandated to provide concessional loans to higher educational institutions.

There are also plans to provide funds from this cess amount towards new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, IITs and IIMs. Besides, a part of the money will be spent on the newly-launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan scheme in secondary education.

A proposal to this effect will be moved before the Cabinet soon, sources said.

As per the HRD Ministry's plan, the proposed NHEFC will be an institutional mechanism to address the investment needs in higher education sector.

The proposed corporation will nurture philanthropic tradition in education by providing loans at concessional rates on interest to such agencies for establishment of higher and vocational institutions in educationally backward areas.

It will be a NABARD-like institution in higher education. It will raise debt by issue or sale of bonds for augmenting resource from the market. It will finance creation of universities.

The government is collecting another two per cent cess of the total tax payable for primary education. Government has collected Rs 23,509 crore as primary education cess in the last four years.

The primary education cess is credited into a non-lapsable fund 'Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh' and is utilized for schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal.

Source:Education cess to boost IITs, IIMs

 

[yashchauhan]

The eleventh plan has the following objectives:

1. Income & Poverty
* Accelerate GDP growth from 8% to 10% and then maintain at 10% in the 12th Plan in order to double per capita income by 2016-17
* Increase agricultural GDP growth rate to 4% per year to ensure a broader spread of benefits
* Create 70 million new work opportunities.
* Reduce educated unemployment to below 5%.
* Raise real wage rate of unskilled workers by 20 percent.
* Reduce the headcount ratio of consumption poverty by 10 percentage points.
2. Education
* Reduce dropout rates of children from elementary school from 52.2% in 2003-04 to 20% by 2011-12
* Develop minimum standards of educational attainment in elementary school, and by regular testing monitor effectiveness of education to ensure quality
* Increase literacy rate for persons of age 7 years or above to 85%
* Lower gender gap in literacy to 10 percentage point
* Increase the percentage of each cohort going to higher education from the present 10% to 15% by the end of the plan
3. Health
* Reduce infant mortality rate to 28 and maternal mortality ratio to 1 per 1000 live births
* Reduce Total Fertility Rate to 2.1
* Provide clean drinking water for all by 2009 and ensure that there are no slip-backs
* Reduce malnutrition among children of age group 0-3 to half its present level
* Reduce anaemia among women and girls by 50% by the end of the plan
4. Women and Children
* Raise the sex ratio for age group 0-6 to 935 by 2011-12 and to 950 by 2016-17
* Ensure that at least 33 percent of the direct and indirect beneficiaries of all government schemes are women and girl children
* Ensure that all children enjoy a safe childhood, without any compulsion to work
5. Infrastructure
* Ensure electricity connection to all villages and BPL households by 2009 and round-the-clock power.
* Ensure all-weather road connection to all habitation with population 1000 and above (500 in hilly and tribal areas) by 2009, and ensure coverage of all significant habitation by 2015
* Connect every village by telephone by November 2007 and provide broadband connectivity to all villages by 2012
* Provide homestead sites to all by 2012 and step up the pace of house construction for rural poor to cover all the poor by 2016-17
6. Environment
* Increase forest and tree cover by 5 percentage points.
* Attain WHO standards of air quality in all major cities by 2011-12.
* Treat all urban waste water by 2011-12 to clean river waters.
* Increase energy efficiency by 20 percentage points by 2016-17.


............

 

[yashchauhan]

And the good thing is that India has already achieved some of the targets and is very near on achieving most of them!

 

[yashchauhan]

India's urban development


India has a young and rapidly growing population—a potential demographic dividend. But India needs thriving cities if that dividend is to pay out. New MGI research estimates that cities could generate 70 percent of net new jobs created to 2030, produce around 70 percent of Indian GDP, and drive a near fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation.

Handled well, India can reap significant benefits from urbanization. MGI offers a range of recommendations, the vast majority of which India could implement within five to ten years. If India were to follow the recommendations, it could add 1 to 1.5 percent to annual GDP growth, bringing the economy near to the double-digit growth to which the government aspires.

Surging growth and employment in cities will be a powerful magnet. MGI projections show India’s urban population soaring from 340 million in 2008 to 590 million in 2030. And this urban expansion will happen at a speed quite unlike anything India has seen before. It took India nearly 40 years (between 1971 and 2008) for the urban population to rise by nearly 230 million. It will take only half the time to add the next 250 million.

India has the potential to unlock many new growth markets in its cities, many of them not traditionally associated with India including infrastructure, transportation, health care, education, and recreation. MGI projects that, to meet urban demand, the economy will have to build between 700 million and 900 million square meters of residential and commercial space a year. In transportation, India needs to build 350 to 400 kilometers of metros and subways every year, more than 20 times the capacity building of this type that India has achieved in the past decade. In addition, between 19,000 and 25,000 kilometers of road lanes would need to be built every year (including lanes for bus-based rapid transit systems), nearly equal to the road lanes constructed over the past decade.

Cities can also deliver a higher quality of life. Urban scale benefits means the cost of delivering basic services is 30 to 40 percent cheaper in concentrated population centers than in sparsely populated areas. But to reap such benefits, India needs to meet an unprecedented policy challenge. If it fails to do so, this could seriously jeopardize its growth and risk high unemployment.

Although urban India has attracted investment on the back of strong growth, its cities are still failing to deliver even a basic standard of living for their residents after years of chronic underinvestment. Unless it steps up investment in its cities, India could well lose the productivity dividend of urban living. Today, in per capita terms, India's annual capital spending of $17 is only 14 percent of China’s $116 and less than 6 percent of New York's $292.

MGI estimates that India needs to invest $1.2 trillion just in capital expenditure in its cities over the next 20 years, equivalent to $134 per capita per year, almost eight times the level of spending today. If India taps into five sources of funding used in cities around the world—monetized land assets, higher property taxes, user charges that reflect costs, debt and public-private partnerships, and formula-based government funding—its largest cities could generate as much as 80 percent of the funding they require from internal sources.

FULL READING

 

[KS]

India's urban development


India has a young and rapidly growing population—a potential demographic dividend. But India needs thriving cities if that dividend is to pay out. New MGI research estimates that cities could generate 70 percent of net new jobs created to 2030, produce around 70 percent of Indian GDP, and drive a near fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation.

Handled well, India can reap significant benefits from urbanization. MGI offers a range of recommendations, the vast majority of which India could implement within five to ten years. If India were to follow the recommendations, it could add 1 to 1.5 percent to annual GDP growth, bringing the economy near to the double-digit growth to which the government aspires.

Surging growth and employment in cities will be a powerful magnet. MGI projections show India’s urban population soaring from 340 million in 2008 to 590 million in 2030. And this urban expansion will happen at a speed quite unlike anything India has seen before. It took India nearly 40 years (between 1971 and 2008) for the urban population to rise by nearly 230 million. It will take only half the time to add the next 250 million.

India has the potential to unlock many new growth markets in its cities, many of them not traditionally associated with India including infrastructure, transportation, health care, education, and recreation. MGI projects that, to meet urban demand, the economy will have to build between 700 million and 900 million square meters of residential and commercial space a year. In transportation, India needs to build 350 to 400 kilometers of metros and subways every year, more than 20 times the capacity building of this type that India has achieved in the past decade. In addition, between 19,000 and 25,000 kilometers of road lanes would need to be built every year (including lanes for bus-based rapid transit systems), nearly equal to the road lanes constructed over the past decade.

Cities can also deliver a higher quality of life. Urban scale benefits means the cost of delivering basic services is 30 to 40 percent cheaper in concentrated population centers than in sparsely populated areas. But to reap such benefits, India needs to meet an unprecedented policy challenge. If it fails to do so, this could seriously jeopardize its growth and risk high unemployment.

Although urban India has attracted investment on the back of strong growth, its cities are still failing to deliver even a basic standard of living for their residents after years of chronic underinvestment. Unless it steps up investment in its cities, India could well lose the productivity dividend of urban living. Today, in per capita terms, India's annual capital spending of $17 is only 14 percent of China’s $116 and less than 6 percent of New York's $292.

MGI estimates that India needs to invest $1.2 trillion just in capital expenditure in its cities over the next 20 years, equivalent to $134 per capita per year, almost eight times the level of spending today. If India taps into five sources of funding used in cities around the world—monetized land assets, higher property taxes, user charges that reflect costs, debt and public-private partnerships, and formula-based government funding—its largest cities could generate as much as 80 percent of the funding they require from internal sources.

FULL READING

it will be good if we can achieve it....rather than just planning it.

 

[Kinetic]

PLAN!!! lol

All the GoIs so far did nothing to improve the condition of general Indians. They only care about their accounts in Swiss bank and their children. The way India is going in next 100 years also our poor people will remain poor. But people have to blame more than corrupted 'leaders', they does serious crimes but still people vote them into power!!!! We Indians love strike, movement and sleep. Visit a govt hospital, office or any other public place or any rural area, you will see 'real India'. Some places improved, yes, but most of the places are in 19th century.

After 63 years of independence most of the Indians are still poor.

 

[HariSeldon]

PLAN!!! lol

All the GoIs so far did nothing to improve the condition of general Indians. They only care about their accounts in Swiss bank and their children. The way India is going in next 100 years also our poor people will remain poor. But people have to blame more than corrupted 'leaders', they does serious crimes but still people vote them into power!!!! We Indians love strike, movement and sleep. Visit a govt hospital, office or any other public place or any rural area, you will see 'real India'. Some places improved, yes, but most of the places are in 19th century.

After 63 years of independence most of the Indians are still poor.

As you said "most" I assume that you mean more than 50%. Can you pls clarify on what basis you will call somebodypoor? What I mean is what basic requirement which is not getting fullfilled can be called poor.
For me somebody not able to get 2 square meals a day is poor. And I don't think that more than 50% of IN population is deprived of 2 square meals.

 

[Kinetic]

As you said "most" I assume that you mean more than 50%. Can you pls clarify on what basis you will call somebodypoor? What I mean is what basic requirement which is not getting fullfilled can be called poor.
For me somebody not able to get 2 square meals a day is poor. And I don't think that more than 50% of IN population is deprived of 2 square meals.

Is 2 square meal everything? If that is the way of counting poor people than that is a big fault!

Not to be a poor I mean when people don't need to sleep in the streets, when people can get a bed in the hospital and proper medicare, when our children don't go to schools like cowsheds, when our people can have minimum ability to feed a pregnant mother and his child......

OK forget about them. What about those people who can get '2 square meal'? Are they happy? Have you seen their condition? Where they live? How they feed their children? How their children grow up? What happens to them if one of the earning member of them family get sick? Where they get medicare? How they maintain their social ceremonies? Thats a sad story.

There are so many people in India those die without food forget treatment or education!! They live like cattle, born and die. India is developing but without them.

 

[Zebronic]

NEW YORK: As many as 56 Indian companies, including Reliance Industries and State Bank of India, have been named among the world's 2,000 most powerful listed companies, according to US magazine Forbes.

The 'Global 2000' list of the biggest and most powerful companies worldwide has been topped by US banking giant JPMorgan Chase and is followed by General Electric, Bank of America and ExxonMobil.

Among Indian high performers, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack and has been ranked at the 126th place in the global list.

Other Indian companies named in the list include State Bank of India (130), ONGC (155), ICICI Bank (282), Indian Oil (313), NTPC (341), Tata Steel (345), Bharti Airtel (471), Steel Authority of India (502), Larsen & Toubro (548) and HDFC Bank (632).

The global rankings span 62 countries, with the US (515 members) and Japan (210 members) dominating the list as usual, although the number of companies from developing nations in the Global 2000 is fast increasing.

This year, the countries that gained the most ground are mainland China (113 members), India (56 members) and Canada (62 members), the magazine said.

Forbes' ranking of the world's biggest companies used an equal weighting of sales, profits, assets and market value to rank companies according to size and this year's list reveals the dynamism of global business.

"In total, the Global 2000 companies now account for USD 30 trillion in revenues, USD 1.4 trillion in profits, USD 124 trillion in assets and USD 31 trillion in market value. All metrics are down from last year, except for market value, which rose 61 per cent," Forbes said.

Two companies from the Anil Ambani Group, Reliance Communications (742) and Reliance Infrastructure (1,702), have also made it on the list.

Other Indian companies named on the list include state-owned Punjab National Bank (695), Tata Consultancy Services (741), HDFC (783), Infosys (807), DLF (923) and Hero Honda Motors (1,571).

LINK

 

[Gene]

56 indian companies...
i wish more and more indian companies join the global 2000 list..

 

[baker]

And why this is in Defense section dude...

 

[yashchauhan]

Is 2 square meal everything? If that is the way of counting poor people than that is a big fault!

Not to be a poor I mean when people don't need to sleep in the streets, when people can get a bed in the hospital and proper medicare, when our children don't go to schools like cowsheds, when our people can have minimum ability to feed a pregnant mother and his child......

OK forget about them. What about those people who can get '2 square meal'? Are they happy? Have you seen their condition? Where they live? How they feed their children? How their children grow up? What happens to them if one of the earning member of them family get sick? Where they get medicare? How they maintain their social ceremonies? Thats a sad story.

There are so many people in India those die without food forget treatment or education!! They live like cattle, born and die. India is developing but without them.

I understand your sentiments for those unfortunate people but some is destiny and some is capability and rest is future.Well situation is not that bad here and the things will improve with time and development.We can't stop other people develop just because rest are being left behind.And the strong developing middle class will only cater to the lower class in future through their enormous consumption of goods and services.All we need is to continue with our present education program and abide by our 5 year plans and one thing is a fact...ITS THE BEST TIME INDIA HAD EVER...so CHEER UP!

This is what we call development...from worst to worse to bad to good to better and finally best...we can't just jump from worst to best........India is a huge developing nation with equal magnitude of problems!

 

[lhuang]

ArcelorMittal?

 

[hillman32]

So what ?

Its false side of real story.

we know what the REAL INDIA is !!!!!!!!

But I want to congratulate Brand Managers of India for their success in making the World believe the opposite of reality.

 

[desiman]

So what ?

Its false side of real story.

we know what the REAL INDIA is !!!!!!!!

But I want to congratulate Brand Managers of India for their success in making the World believe the opposite of reality.

i can feel the heat till here lol