Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Soumitra]

IWAI Signs Contract with DST, Germany for Designing Special Vessels for NW-1

With its objective of providing safe, environment friendly and economical mode of transportation through National Waterway-1 (NW-1), The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI),Ministry of Shipping signed a contract with M/s DST, Germany to design vessels, especially suited to navigate the 1620 km stretch of NW-1.

Speaking on the occasion a senior IWAI official said it is a revolutionary step and a milestone in the journey of NW-1. “The objective of IWAI is to go along with nature and disturb the river minimally. The specially designed vessels will navigate on low drafts and will be of high carrying capacity, and most importantly, will be environment friendly,” he said.

Considering the expected growth of the Inland Waterways sector in India, DST, Germany is expected to develop a combination of standardised vessels to meet the requirement of various types of cargo. One of the most important navigational challenges for NW-1 is the kind of vessels that will play on the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly stretch. Keeping in view the difficult hydro-morphological characteristics of the river in the upper reaches between Patna and Varanasi, it is important to have vessels which can ply on low draft, with high carrying capacity, and are economically viable and environment friendly.

Earlier in August 2016, the Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Sh. Nitin Gadkari flagged off the trial run of two cargo vessels from Varanasi on NW-1(River Ganga). Keeping in view the demand for transportation of cars through NW-1, M/s DST,Germany has been initially tasked to develop low draft vessels that can carry up to 150-200 vehicles.

Government is developing NW-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, with assistance from the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,200 crore. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 tons.Phase-I of the project covers the Haldia-Varanasi stretch. The project includes development of fairway, Multi-Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Haldia, and Sahibganj, strengthening of river navigation system, conservancy works, modern River Information System (RIS), Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night navigation facilities, modern methods of channel marking, construction of a new state of the art navigational lock at Farakka etc.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=150993&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_waterways_of_India

 

[Mujraparty]

India eyes strategic energy assets overseas

NEW DELHI -- Seeking to enhance its strategic presence and secure energy sources, India is making major investments in the hydrocarbon sector abroad, with the latest being its acquisition of a substantial stake in a key Russian oil field.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., has signed agreements with Russia's national oil company Rosneft to acquire an additional 11% stake in its subsidiary, JSC Vankorneft which operates Vankor oil and gas field in east Siberia.



The deal, inked on Sept. 14 and expected to close by year-end, is reportedly valued at around $925 million, and would raise ONGC Videsh's shareholding to 26%. In May, the Indian company had completed the acquisition of a 15% stake in Vankorneft for $1.27 billion.

Separately, a consortium of state-run Indian companies including Indian Oil Corp., Oil India and Bharat Petroleum Corp.'s subsidiary Bharat PetroResources, signed a similar agreement with Rosneft for a 23.9% stake in Vankor oil fields during Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's visit to Russia in June. The deal -- which according to Russia's Interfax news agency is valued at over $2 billion -- will mean that about 50% of Vankor will be held by Indian state-run companies.

"Make hay while the Sun shines -- this is what India is doing," said Pankaj K. Jha, research director at the Indian Council of World Affairs. "Russia is facing a cash crunch because of Western sanctions over its strikes in Ukraine, and India is in a position to [make a good deal] there."

Jha said that India was using the savings it made from the plunge in crude oil prices to invest in overseas assets. India, with a population of 1.25 billion, imports around 80% of its crude oil and 35% of its natural gas requirements.

But as it develops, it needs more energy assets to fuel its growth. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has placed a great deal of emphasis on energy security and in expanding its global footprint, encouraging state-run companies to explore opportunities both in India and overseas.

Jha said that India needed energy sources closer to home and he cited eastern Russia and Africa as among the regions of interest.

"Its energy security drive is also to do with expanding its strategic presence. Be it the case of Vietnam [where China has objected to ONGC's oil exploration activities in the South China Sea] or any other country India is investing in," he said.

The Indian government also plans to invest in Russia's Yamal gas reserves owned by the natural gas major Gazprom. In addition, it is exploring opportunities in Africa -- from where it imports about 16% of its crude oil -- and is keen to work with Iran in developing its Farzad B gas field, which was discovered by ONGC Videsh in 2008.

The Iranian field is estimated to hold 12.8 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, but Western sanctions on Iran, now lifted, were among the key reasons development was delayed.

ONGC Videsh, which currently produces about 215,000 barrels of oil and oil-equivalent gas per day, has 37 projects in various countries, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela, Vietnam and New Zealand.

Vankor is Russia's second largest field accounting for around 421,000 barrels per day of crude oil on average. With the 26% stake, ONGC Videsh's share of daily oil production from Vankor would be about 110,000 bpd.

The company also said that the acquisition would add roughly 30% to its existing production at the current rate and approximately 2.2 million tons of oil and 1.0 billion cubic meters of gas annually.


http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/AC/India-eyes-strategic-energy-assets-overseas

 

[Ankit Kumar 002]

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways22-September, 2016 16:51 IST
NHAI Awards Contract for 4-Laning of Panchkula-Yamunanagar Section of NH-73 (new NH-344) in Haryana.


The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued Letter of Award (LOA) for development of following section in the state of Haryana under NHDP Phase-III:

NH No.
Section
Length
Total Project Cost
Concessionaire’s Name
NH-73 (new NH-344)
4 Laning of Panchkula-Yamunanagar Section from km 157.192 to km 176.400
19 km
Rs. 249 crore
M/s Gawar Construction Ltd.


Panchkula and twin cities of Jagadhari and Yamunanagar are important commercial and industrial centres of Haryana. Development of Panchkula-Yamunanagar Section from km 157.192 to km 176.400will improve connectivity to various villages and towns and confer boost to the economy of the area by way of providing access to various places of business and tourist importance.

The existing 108 km long stretch of NH-73 (New NH 344) between Panchkula to Yamunanagar connects Haryana to state of Uttar Pradesh and passes through Barwala, Sahjadpur, Saha, Jagadhari cities. This highway passes through Khol-hi-raitan wild life sanctuary at two section from km 175.350 to km 176.00 & 177.090 to km 177.500 and leads to Saharanpur and Roorkee.

The project has been divided into three packages. Package-I and Package-II have already been awarded on EPC mode. The balance length of 19 km has now been awarded on EPC mode which starts from km 160.356 near Barwala town and ends at km 179.249 at Panchkula. The project would be completed in 24 months from the date of commencement of the project.

It will have 4 major Bridges, 3 major Junctions, 25 minor Junctions, 1 Flyover, 1 Vehicular Underpass, 1 Pedestrian Underpass, 2 Overhead Bridges for crossing, 10 Bus Bays and 9 km long service road on both sides.
…

UM/MS/AC

(Release ID :151031)

 

[Ankit Kumar 002]

Bullet train: Indian Railways begins hunt for top management

While there are apprehensions in the market on the fares of the bullet train, railway minister Suresh Prabhu in July had assured parliament that they would be lower than airfares.

Moving forward to implement the ambitious Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, Indian Railways has initiated a global hunt to recruit the top management of the newly formed National Highway Speed Rail Corp. Ltd (NHSRCL).

NHSRCL is the special purpose vehicle responsible for implementation of the project.

The railways on Tuesday invited applications for the top four posts in NHSRCL. These include managing director, director (project), director (electrical and systems) and director (finance).

Selections will be made by a committee headed by the cabinet secretary.

However, for the post of managing director, the railways has introduced a special clause that the successful candidate will have to furnish an undertaking /bond for serving a minimum period of five years. Further, the search panel has been empowered to relax all criteria if it finds an outstanding candidate.

A railway ministry official, requesting anonymity, said, “Such unique provisions have been made because of two reasons. One to attract global talent for the project and secondly the government wants an officer who can give commitment to complete it on time—that is, by 2023-24.”

Transport economist G. Raghuram of IIM Ahmedabad sees “this as a good signal”. “With such plans, Indian Railways has made it clear that any officer who wants to come for this job has to dedicate five years and even political influence won’t affect the work role.”

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor or bullet train is one of the most ambitious projects of the Narendra Modi government, estimated to cost Rs97,636 crore. The train will cover a distance of around 508km in approximately two hours, with a speed of over 329 km per hour, and will be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Railways and JICA, the Japanese government will finance 81% of the project cost of Rs97,636 crore with an interest rate of 0.1% per annum, to be repaid in 50 years with 15 years of moratorium.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/82...-Railways-begins-hunt-for-top-management.html

 

[Bilal9]

IWAI Signs Contract with DST, Germany for Designing Special Vessels for NW-1

With its objective of providing safe, environment friendly and economical mode of transportation through National Waterway-1 (NW-1), The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI),Ministry of Shipping signed a contract with M/s DST, Germany to design vessels, especially suited to navigate the 1620 km stretch of NW-1.

Speaking on the occasion a senior IWAI official said it is a revolutionary step and a milestone in the journey of NW-1. “The objective of IWAI is to go along with nature and disturb the river minimally. The specially designed vessels will navigate on low drafts and will be of high carrying capacity, and most importantly, will be environment friendly,” he said.

Considering the expected growth of the Inland Waterways sector in India, DST, Germany is expected to develop a combination of standardised vessels to meet the requirement of various types of cargo. One of the most important navigational challenges for NW-1 is the kind of vessels that will play on the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly stretch. Keeping in view the difficult hydro-morphological characteristics of the river in the upper reaches between Patna and Varanasi, it is important to have vessels which can ply on low draft, with high carrying capacity, and are economically viable and environment friendly.

Earlier in August 2016, the Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Sh. Nitin Gadkari flagged off the trial run of two cargo vessels from Varanasi on NW-1(River Ganga). Keeping in view the demand for transportation of cars through NW-1, M/s DST,Germany has been initially tasked to develop low draft vessels that can carry up to 150-200 vehicles.

Government is developing NW-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, with assistance from the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,200 crore. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 tons.Phase-I of the project covers the Haldia-Varanasi stretch. The project includes development of fairway, Multi-Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Haldia, and Sahibganj, strengthening of river navigation system, conservancy works, modern River Information System (RIS), Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night navigation facilities, modern methods of channel marking, construction of a new state of the art navigational lock at Farakka etc.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=150993&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I hope this is not too out-of-topic for the subject,

Our local shipbuilding style as compared to the shipbuilding practices for Export markets as shown below in a couple of videos. This is a personal opinion that as far as design and construction, this vessel compares favorably with those in use in Europe for luxury river cruises.

It is important to enlist the private sector (local shipwrights) to build marine vessels. They are dynamic enough to do what is needed. You don't need to consult the Germans for "low draft, .....high carrying capacity, ......economically viable.....environment friendly."

Such technologists and consultants are aplenty in India itself.

I hope this is not too out-of-topic for the subject,

Our local shipbuilding style as compared to the shipbuilding practices for Export markets as shown below in a couple of videos. This is a personal opinion that as far as design and construction, this vessel compares favorably with those in use in Europe for luxury river cruises.

It is important to enlist the private sector (local shipwrights) to build marine vessels. They are dynamic enough to do what is needed. You don't need to consult the Germans for "low draft, .....high carrying capacity, ......economically viable.....environment friendly."

Such technologists and consultants are aplenty in India itself.

Also - for your National Waterway One - Container carrying ships will be important.

Bangladesh has standardized container carrying vessels, routes and required dredging from Chittagong Port to Pangaon Inland Container Depot (ICD Terminal) in Dhaka. There is one more marine ICD under construction near Dhaka as well.

The 3500 DWT (176 TEUs) container ships are of a common design (MV HARBOUR - 1 shown), eight larger ones are also being built for India.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1151003884923261

Ship Name : MV HARBOUR - 1
Builder : Western Marine Shipyard Limited
IMO No - 9693654
Length OA: 82.5m
Length BP: 78.77m
Breadth molded: 15.00m
Depth: 7.20m
Capacity: 176 TEUs of container
Class: Germanischer Lloyd
Route: Chittagong Port to Pangaon Inland Container Terminal.

Pangaon ICD terminal

 

[Shravan#22580]

I heard that the railways are gonna introduce high speed EMUs which can hit 200+ tops. Any idea from you people
@anant_s @Abingdonboy @Ankit Kumar 002

 

[anant_s]

Railways could be freed of populism after Budget unification

NEW DELHI: The Modi government's decision to discontinue the British-era practice of a separate Railway Budget, apart from being intended to encourage better fiscal management, is aimed at freeing the state-run transporter from the clutches of ruinous political populism.

With the railway budget often becoming a political gravy train, the state-run transporter was forced to divert resources even as unfinished projects piled up amid popular, but uneconomical announcements.

The "political glamour" of rail ministry attracted the attention of regional political players who bargained and controlled the portfolio for more than 15 years of coalition government under United Front, NDA and UPA regimes. These leaders, barring some exceptions, treated the portfolio like a milch cow for distributing political patronage. This populism pushed back long pending reforms to plug the flaws in the national transporter's structures and governance.

The decision to do away with the rail budget was welcomed by BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab who heads the railway convention committee. "There is no need for a separate budget as there are other departments in the government that also have large budgets. The railway budget was a relic of colonial times with the general budget being presented in England," he said.

Barring Nitish Kumar, who was seen to be committed to financial and safety norms, other regional bigwigs like Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee often focussed more on politics. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who left the rail portfolio after winning Bengal assembly polls, went on to sack her party nominee Dinesh Trivedi who increased passenger fares left untouched for decades.

The Niti Aayog panel headed by Bibek Debroy which recommended scrapping of a separate budget had observed that the move would help to reduce railways visibility, which would actually be real reform as many critical areas would then possibly cease to be hostage to political compulsions.

Populism resulted in more than 300 projects being announced in past budgets which require around Rs 3 lakh crore to complete. Keeping passenger fares low resulted in a subsidy burden of over Rs 30,000 crore annually and over charging on freight which saw the railways lose business to roads. Announcement of a large number of trains on uneconomical routes and stoppages by successive railway ministers further stressed the transporter.

The cash-strapped railways was unable to raise the huge resources needed to make it viable through modernisation, increase in efficiency and reduction of wastage. Stressed finances have hit investment in vital operational areas.

The proposed rail development authority to determine passenger and freight tariff and to ensure fair play and level playing field for private investments will further depoliticise the functioning of railways. Even at the beginning of UPA-2, the Planning Commission tried to push railways towards institutional reforms. Doing away with a separate budget, many feel, will accelerate the reform process.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...r-Budget-unification/articleshow/54473041.cms

 

[aswin]

Do post prototypes of bogies developed for indian ecosystem by our indian railways.

great fan of u anant sir

regards

 

[raj76]

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण,कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे!
हरे राम हरे राम, राम राम हरे हरे!
23-09-2016

#Economy:VodafoneGroup Plc pumped a record Rs 47,700 crore of overseas investment into its Indian operation, slashing the unit's debt by half, priming it for the upcoming spectrum auction and ensuring battle-readiness in the fight for market share as Reliance Jio Infocomm enters the fray.

#Finance:FM expressed the hope that all pending issues will be resolved in due course for a uniform pan-India indirect tax regime taking effect from the targeted date of April 1 next year.

#In a bid to check corruption in construction of rural roads, the Center will do geo-satellite monitoring of the entire process of construction of rural roads in the country. Recently, a pilot project in this regard was carried out by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

#Markets regulator Sebi has prohibited four companies from selling various immovable and movable properties as part of its efforts to recover dues totalling over Rs 1,200 crore. The companies are Mega Mould India, Promotech Infratech, Megasys Medi life and Mangalam Agro Products.

#Mera Bharat Mahaan: A global study on a range of health indicators released has ranked India 143rd among 188 countries, citing various challenges, including mortality rates, malaria hygiene and air pollution.

भारत माता की जय

 

[anant_s]

Do post prototypes of bogies developed for indian ecosystem by our indian railways.

Brother do you mean to say Coaches/Wagons (freight and/or Passenger) or Bogie (again for Freight and/or Passenger)?

Bogie in railway parlance means the assembly of Wheel, Load bearing structure and Drive transfer mechanism.
this is significantly different for Locomotives or power vehicles and load carrying Wagons/coaches.

 

[aswin]

I meant coaches sir. sorry for my ignorance. There is no civilian access to prototypes which are developed in ICF. but i am sure there is a shop dedicated for development of prototypes in relation to coaches both in shell as well as furnishing dept.

regards.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Work on the 125-km Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail link, which will have India’s longest tunnel of 15.1 km, is set to begin in four-five months.

The cost of the railway project will be Rs 16,200 crore, up from around Rs 4,000 crore estimated when it was mooted six years ago. The rise in cost has been attributed to the forest ministry’s delay in giving environment clearance to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for acquisition of land in high-altitude areas.

Besides inflation, the cost escalation is due to inclusion of a separate rescue tunnel that will be constructed parallel to the main rail line, RVNL officials said.

“Escape tunnels for relief or rescue was included following a guideline issued by the Indian railways in 2013,” RVNL joint general manager for the project, Sumit Jain said, adding that work is set to begin in 4-5 months.

According to sources, the forest ministry’s office in Dehradun did not give the clearance as it was not convinced that the rail track alignment plan was linear which was mandatory considering the unstable and fragile nature of Himalayas.

However, it was forced to give the clearance after Union ministry in Delhi wrote a letter to it on September 16, stating that the project is linear.

The rail link will connect pilgrimage towns Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Gauchar Karnprayag with five districts of Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri, Rudrapryag and Chamoli.

The line will have 105 km or 85% of the project inside tunnels. A 15.1-km tunnel, longest in the country, is set to come up between Devprayag and Lachmoli on the route. The project will also include 16 bridges with the longest of them being 460m.

India’s longest tunnel is the 11.2 kilometre link from Banihal to Quazikund linking the Jammu region to the Kashmir valley.

As per RVNL and state tourism department officials, it will reduce the time taken between Rishikesh and Karnprayag— which bifurcates road for Badrinath and Kedarnath—to a maximum of 2 hours from the present over seven. “Besides this, there will be huge cut in travel cost for pilgrims,” Jain said.

Officials said it would also speed up the transportation of defence personnel and equipment to border areas.

“This project will also support the state’s efforts in stopping migration and open the gateway for penetrating railway lines further into the hills,” former minister of state for railways, Satpal Maharaj, during whose tenure the rail link was first mooted, said.


http://www.hindustantimes.com/dehra...rayag-route/story-wS8XHEfypDEXqdmkby3aAN.html

 

[luckych]

Apple buys Hyderabad start-up

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/apple-buys-hyderabad-startup/article9139886.ece

 

[Nilgiri]

 

[Nilgiri]