Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Ryuzaki]

ERRR!

SoftBank burns its fingers with big India bet, loses $1.4 billion
SoftBank is the largest private investor in India's startup ecosystem. The Masayoshi Son-led giant has pumped in over $2 billion here till date.

No one expects to earn money currently,big money will start coming in after 10 years.Uber,Amazon everyone will continue to burn money for the time being.

 

[ashok321]

• After Wipro & Infy, Tech Mahindra to lay off hundreds

 

[ashok321]

https://twitter.com/x/status/862504073072844801

 

[ranjeet]

Ease of getting power: India’s rank up by 73

"during the last two years, India moved up to the 26th spot in global electricity accessibility ranking, moving up from 99th in 2014 aided largely by the Modi government's rural electrification programme in the last three years since it came to power."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...nk-up-by-73/articleshow/58638803.cms?from=mdr

 

[Śakra]

What is the size of our economy now?

 

[Ryuzaki]

India imposes anti-dumping duty on 47 steel products for 5 years

NEW DELHI: India imposed retroactive anti-dumping duties on some steel products of foreign firms including POSCO and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, the latest in a series of protectionist measures that have already drawn international complaints.

The duties on hot-rolled flat products of alloy or non alloy steel, originating in or exported from China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, will be effective for five years from Aug. 8, 2016, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its website on Friday.


Indian companies such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel and SAIL have already benefited from the restrictions on overseas purchases, with imports falling around 37 percent to 7.4 million tonnes and exports jumping 102 percent to 8.2 million tonnes in the year ended March 31 from a year ago.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

What is the size of our economy now?

$ 2,454.458 Trillion(nominal) acc. to IMF

 

[Nilgiri]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...o-5-after-iip-revamp/articleshow/58651726.cms

NEW DELHI: The Central Statistics Office (CSO) revamped the index of industrial production on Friday by shifting to a new base year, deleting 'irrelevant' items such as calculators, gutka and colour picture tubes, and inducting new items to better reflect changes in the industrial sector over the years.

The base year was revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12.

As a result, industrial output growth in 2016-17 rose a healthy 5% compared with 0.7% under the 2004-05 base year.

In March, industrial output clocked 2.7% growth, slower than the 5.5% growth posted in March 2016.

As part of the overhaul of industrial output data, the new series has 809 items in the manufacturing sector.

The CSO has added 149 new items such as steroids and hormonal preparations, cement clinkers, surgical accessories, prefabricated concrete blocks and refined palm oil while 124 products such as calculators, colour TV picture tubes and gutka have been deleted from the 2004-05 series, which had 620 items.

To reflect the increasing significance of electricity generation from renewable sources, the CSO has also added data from this segment.

New series reflects changes in eco over years: Economists

Anew category of infrastructure and construction goods has been added to the overall industrial data. The coverage of the mining sector has also undergone a change.

Economists said the new series reflects the changes in the economy over the years.

"This is much more realistic and more or less closer to the new GDP data," Pronob Sen, former chief statistician said. But he called for faster revision to better capture the changes in the economy.

"Even this revision is outdated by 6 years as we are in 2017-18. The work on the next revision should start right away," he said.

Economists have called for revision of the industrial output data given the volatility in the 2004-05 series and the inclusion of obsolete items in the product mix used for calculating the key data.

The government has also set up a technical review committee, headed by the secretary, statistics, which will monitor the data and help in revising the list of products and the panel of factories.

The panel will meet at least once a year for identifying new items that need to be included in the basket of products and those that need to be dropped.

"The new series shows higher growth rates compared with the old series which can be attributed to shifting of base to a more recent period, increase in number of factories in the panel for reporting data and exclusion of closed one and inclusion of new items and exclusion of old ones," said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Care Ratings.

"In FY17, as per the new series the industrial growth improved to 5%. Overall industrial activity is expected to witness expansion in this fiscal year owing to improved demand from across sectors.

Thus we expect the industrial output to grow by a similar range of 5-6% in FY 18," Sabnavis said.
For capital goods, data in the new series will now be captured in terms of "work in progress" to better represent the growth of capital goods and to avoid reporting of production figures in bulk after the completion of production.

===========================

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...rket-trend-india-inc/articleshow/58650048.cms

WPI, IIP new series more reflective of market trend: India Inc

"These two indices are now measuring inflation and industrial production with reference to a closer time and closer to real situation," Chief Economist at India Ratings & Research Devendra Kumar Pant said on the new base year for IIP and WPI.

(More at link)

@anant_s

 

[Ryuzaki]

Road to Swadeshi! PMO giving final touches to big 'Buy Indian' policy

Buy Indian and Make in India – the government will bring out a full-fledged ‘price preference’ policy favouring Indian-owned companies. The policy, likely to be finalised by end of May, is being driven by the PMO and is aimed at boosting Indian enterprises across sectors.

Preferential pricing is expected to allow additional time to Indian-owned bidding companies so that they can match the lowest bid in case the latter was made by an entity that’s partly Indian-owned or mostly foreign-owned.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ig-buy-indian-policy/articleshow/58651467.cms


Suzuki is pumping in billions of dollars to further strengthen its position in India

Suzuki has lined up investments worth close to Rs 10,000 crore to set up manufacturing facilities in Gujarat to produce 750,000 vehicles a year.

It announced a factory to make lithium ion batteries — rechargeable batteries used in electric and hybrid vehicles — in joint venture with Toshiba and Denso. And, if one ties along the proposed partnership with Toyota, Suzuki is clearly thinking far ahead into the future. The move, in fact, has a potential to drive car electrification in the country.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[Soumitra]

PM Narendra Modi To Inaugurate India's Longest Bridge On May 26 Near China Border
It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India.
COMMENTS

The bridge will cut travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by four hours.

DIBRUGARH:
HIGHLIGHTS

1. India builds country's longest bridge in Assam, close to Chinese border
2. The Dhola-Sadiya bridge, built on the Brahmaputra, is 9.15-km-long
3. It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai

India's longest river bridge, capable of withstanding the weight of a 60-tonne battle tank, will be inaugurated in Assam close to the border with China on May 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the inauguration of the 9.15-km-long Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the Brahmaputra river, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start the celebrations of the NDA government's three years in office from this eastern-most part of Assam.


It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India.

The bridge is seen as an attempt by India to shore up its defence requirements along the Sino-Indian border, particularly in the northeast, besides providing easy access to the people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam with air and rail connectivity.

"The prime minister will dedicate the strategically important bridge to the nation on May 26. It will bolster the road connectivity in the Northeast as the bridge will be used by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides defence forces extensively," Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI.

The construction of the bridge began in 2011 at a project cost of Rs. 950 crore. The design is such that the bridge can withstand the movement of military tanks.


"Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have huge strategic value to the country. Since the bridge is located close to our border with China, it will help quick movement of military troops and artillery in times of conflict," Mr Sonowal said.

The bridge is located 540-km away from Assam's capital Dispur and 300 km away from Arunachal Pradesh's capital Itanagar. The aerial distance to the Chinese border is less than 100 km.


After Kaliabhomora bridge near Tezpur, there is no bridge over the Brahmaputra for the next 375 km upstream till Dhola, where the new bridge is constructed. Currently, all transportation between the river's two banks is carried out through water only.

The bridge, when opened for the public, will cut down the travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by as much as four hours.

As there is no civilian airport in Arunachal Pradesh, this bridge will help people of the state to reach the nearest rail head in Tinsukia and the airport in Dibrugarh easily.

Mr Sonowal said the delayed works of the bridge was expedited after PM Modi assumed the charge in 2014. The bridge was originally scheduled to open in 2015.

The BJP government in Assam will complete one year in office on May 24.

The bridge is one of the key projects of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the Northeast and is built in public-private partnership with a construction company.

 

[Soumitra]

 

[Hindustani78]

Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras fixed on the platforms of the Mangalore Central Railway Station. File Photo | Photo Credit: Photo: R. Eswarraj
http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...ctv-cameras/article18455529.ece?homepage=true

Indian Railways will install CCTV surveillance system at more than 900 stations under the Nirbhaya Fund at an approved cost of Rs 500 crore to strengthen security at rail premises.

Tenders for this will be floated shortly to install about 19,000 high definition CCTV cameras at over 983 stations across the country to ensure round-the-clock security to passengers including women.

The Centre had created ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ with a ₹1000 crore corpus in its 2013 Union Budget to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in the country.

The project envisages installation of cameras at platforms and waiting areas while there will be control rooms at stations to monitor CCTV footages by trained RPF personnel constantly.

The station master will also be given access to monitor CCTV camera footage as part of the project being undertaken by the public transporter, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Railways have about 8,000 stations out of which currently 344 stations have already been provided with CCTV cameras.


“It is helping us in a great way. The signboard reading ’You are under watch’ has a preventive effect on criminal minds,” the official said.

Besides keeping a constant watch, the CCTV surveillance system helps in post-incident crime investigation.

This is being done with an aim to cover all stations with the CCTV system phase-wise.

Besides, stations, important trains like Rajdhani service are also to be covered as per the plan.

While Shaan-e-Punjab Express is fully covered with the system, some ladies compartments of Mumbai suburban service are being covered under a pilot project.

The Hamsafar Express and the upcoming Tejas service will also be equipped with CCTV cameras.

 

[ashok321]

• Price-to-truth ratio shows India's banks turning Chinese

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Tribal Affairs
16-May, 2017 18:23 IST
National ST Commission Expresses Displeasure Over the Slow Progress on the Issue of Displacement of Tribals Due to Rourkela Steel Plant

National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has expressed its displeasure over the slow progress on the issue of displacement of tribals due to Roukela Steel Plant. In its meeting held in New Delhi today the commission directed Principal revenue Secretary Odisha, district collector of Sundergarh and senior officials of Rourkela Steel Plant that they should report back to the commission within a month about the action taken by them on its directives. The commission said, if it is not satisfied with the action taken report than it will summon the Chief Secretary and CEO of Rourkela Steel Plant.

The commission also directed the Union Steel Ministry to constitute a high level committee under a Joint Secretary to investigate that whether the land acquired for the steel plant was handed over to any cooperative society or private organisation and if so, whether the prior permission of the Govt was obtained or not. The committee should also investigate that how much land is being utilised by the steel plant.

The commission directed the District collector of Sundergarh to submit a report about the status of land returned by the steel plant to the tribal. NCST also expressed its displeasure over the non issue of Pattas for the agricultural and residential land issued to the displaced tribals and directed the District administration to issue these Pattas immediately.

The NCST directed Steel Plant officials that remaining people out of the 1098 persons identified in 1993 should be immediately provided employment in Steel plant. The Plant authorities should also certify that only genuine displaced tribals were provided employment. The commission also directed the steel plant authorities to ensure supply of basic facilities such as electricity and water in the colony set up for displaced tribals.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Railways
16-May, 2017 18:02 IST
Minister of Railways Inaugurates various Passenger Amenities in various Mumbai Suburban Railway Stations

Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated various Passenger Amenities in various Mumbai Suburban Railway Stations. Chairman Railway Board, Shri AK Mital, other Railway Board Members, and senior officials from Railway Board were also present on the occasion.


Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu said that the inauguration of passenger amenities at various station of Mumbai is an important event. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. Around 80 lakhs passenger travel in the Mumbai Suburban Railways, Railways is trying its best to provide better passenger amenities. Lift, escalators, Foot over bridges are to be provided at small stations too. Railways need cooperation of the travellers in maintaining its property. Railways is working with State Government to form Joint Venture so that other Rail Development projects are initiated soon.

Salient Features of the Passenger Amenities:

Indian Railways is always on the forefront to guarantee cent percent satisfaction to its esteemed customers. Under the able leadership of Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon'ble Minister of Railways, Indian Railway is leaving no stone unturned to achieve this promise. Provision of passenger amenities is one of the important objectives of Indian Railways both in terms of business ethics as well as social obligation. Fulfilling the long standing demand of the commuters Shri Prabhu will be inaugurating various passenger amenities as under through video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, New Delhi on 16th May 2017.


Elevated Deck at Borivali Station:

Borivali is one of the important stations on Indian Railways. On the suburban front, there are local trains originating, as well as terminating at Borivali station. All suburban trains going beyond Borivali, too have a halt at Borivali station. Mail, Express, as well as Passenger trains, halt at Borivali station. Looking at the voluminous traffic and for easier passenger movement, it was proposed to construct an elevated deck at Borivali. The work of this elevated deck situated on Platform No.1 has been completed. The elevated deck is 10.5m wide and 300m long connecting all 5 FOBs as well as the skywalk. A Booking office too has been constructed on the south end of the deck. An elevator has been installed on Platform No.1, which connects to the deck. This will hugely help Senior Citizens and Divyang passengers.


New FOBs at Dadar, Matunga Road & Bhayandar stations:

Escalators at Dadar, Bhayandar, Vasai Road & Nallasopara stations:

As part of trespass control measures at suburban stations of Mumbai, new FOBs have been built at Dadar, Matunga Road and Bhayandar stations and Escalators have also been installed at Dadar, Bhayandar, Vasai Road and Nalasopara stations.


The FOB at Dadar station is 6m wide and 200m long and situated near Tilak Road Bridge at north end of Dadar station. This FOB connects Tilak Bridge, PF No.1, 2 & 3 of Indian Railways and PF No.3 to 8 (Dadar Terminus) of Central Railway. Two escalators are installed at PF No.1 of Dadar station.


The new FOB at Matunga Road station is 17m long and 6m wide. It connects PF No 1/2 to west side exit and north FOB. It also connects to south FOB through skywalk passage. Cost of construction of this FOB is Rs 2.99 crore. A new 6m wide FOB has been constructed at the north end of Bhayandar station. This FOB connects East to West and all the platforms. Two escalators have also been installed at Bhayandar station on PF No. 5 & 6. The overall cost of works at Bhayandar station is Rs.11 crore. New escalators have been provided at the south end of PF No.2A of Vasai Road station and on the north end of PF No.2/3 at Nallasopara station. The escalators will prove to be a great boon to Sr. Citizens.


Booking offices at Kandivali & Vasai Road station:

A new Booking office is opened at the north end of PF No.1 at Kandivali station. At Vasai Road station a Booking office is opened on the elevated deck for the benefit of commuters, so as to reduce the waiting time of purchasing tickets.


Toilet Blocks at Goregaon and Kandivali stations:

The nationwide 'Swachh Bharat Mission' has proved to a success story, with the Railways initiating a major role. As a part of this mission, new toilet blocks have been provided at Goregaon and Kandivali stations. The public toilet at Goregaon station has been constructed at a cost of Rs.30 lakh, on the elevated deck of Goregaon harbour station.


Passenger Reservation Centre at Nallasopara station:

Nallasopara has witnessed a huge growth in its population, especially of migrants. Keeping in mind the convenience of the people to book tickets for long distance trains, a Passenger Reservation Centre has been opened at Nallasopara station. This PRS will benefit passengers, as now booking of tickets will be available at a more convenient location.



Andheri Skywalk connecting North FOB of Railway Station to Metro station:

To facilitate interchange as well as direct and short connectivity to Metro and Railway suburban passengers, the Metro station at Andheri station has been connected to North FOB at Andheri railway station. The total length of the skywalk is 80m having a width of 6.6m. Total plan area of the skywalk is 528 sqm. Cost of constructing the skywalk is Rs.7 crore.


*********


Ministry of Railways
16-May, 2017 12:21 IST
Minister of Railways Inaugurates Round Table Conference on Data Analytics for Indian Railways

Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated Round Table Conference on “Data Analytics for Indian Railways”. Chairman Railway Board, Shri AK Mital, other Railway Board Members, representatives and dignitaries from industry and senior officials from Railway Board were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Suresh Prabhu said that a series of Round Table Conferences are being conducted to ideate on various issues concerning Indian Railways. This Round Table Conference is to ideate on Data Analytics on Indian Railways. He also said that Data creation is phenomenal in Indian Railways to carry out commercial and operational opportunity. Data Analytics must be studied, analysed and monitored to improve Indian Railways’ program. Technology is ever evolving, need of the hour is to progress with Data Analytics. Indian Railways shall be the growth engine. Data Analytics can help to create a system that may benefit Railways immensely. Indian Railways is one of the largest Data creators in the world, it has to handle large volume of Data. Data Analytics is a way forward. Data needs to be used wisely. Privacy shall be protected and one of the largest ERP is created in Indian Railways.

Background:

Indian Railways has been using information technology extensively for the past three decades. As a result, large amount of data are available in different aspects of the Railways working such as Passenger Ticketing, Freight Operations, Crew Management, Track Maintenance, Rolling Stock Maintenance(Locomotive), Rolling Stock Maintenance(Wagon and Coaches), Expenditure Accounting etc.

In order to assist the management in taking effective strategic and tactical decisions, Railways have decided to use Data Analytics for Analysis of Data using various statistical and software tools. Data Analytics can help Railways in determining pricing of services, planning train operations on various routes, proactive safety measures and disaster management, predictive maintenance of assets to avoid failures etc.

PRS has data of trains, passengers, earnings, utilization of trains, class wise occupancy, waiting lists and passenger profile is also available in e-ticketing system. This huge data can be analysed to help in Providing innovative products to passengers so that occupancy is improved and passenger is able to get confirmed accommodation.

Freight Operations Information System has data of traffic carried on various routes, the time taken in transportation, the commodities transported, customers, price sensitivity of various streams of traffic etc.

Data Analytics can help in improving throughput and average speed of freight trains. Track Management System has data about condition of track, maintenance of track from time to time, inspection conducted, track renewal, deep screening, rail fractures etc. Data Analytics can help in Predicting vulnerable spots and preventive maintenance.

*****

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu lighting the lamp at the Round Table Conference on the “Data Analytics for Indian Railways”, in New Delhi on May 16, 2017.

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu addressing the Round Table Conference on the “Data Analytics for Indian Railways”, in New Delhi on May 16, 2017. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital is also seen.

The Union Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu addressing the Round Table Conference on the “Data Analytics for Indian Railways”, in New Delhi on May 16, 2017. The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital and other dignitaries are also seen.

 

[ashok321]

From July, even a rickshaw puller will need a bill to move goods under GST