India needs Rs43 trillion of investment in infrastructure over next 5 years: Jaitley

New Delhi: India has a huge unmet need for investment in infrastructure, estimated to the tune of Rs43 trillion or about $646 billion over the next five years. 70% of which will be required in the power, roads and urban infrastructure sectors, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 2nd annual meeting of New Development Bank by the five member BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) countries, Jaitley said in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), the overall growth is picking up, although growth prospects diverge across countries. “But there are newer challenges, most notably a possible shift towards inward-looking policy platforms and protectionism, a sharper than expected tightening in global financial conditions that could interact with balance sheet weaknesses in parts of the euro area and increased geopolitical tensions, including unpredictable economic policy of USA,” he saids.
Amidst the challenges, Jaitley said lie the opportunities with the estimated unmet demand for infrastructure investment in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) is gargantuan, estimated at above $1 trillion a year by the World Bank. “Most importantly, the EMDEs need to carry out this huge investment in a sustainable manner. The established MDBs are now capital constrained, and with their over emphasis on processes, are unable to meet this financing challenge. A Bank like the NDB is well poised to step into the void,” he added.
Chinese finance minister Xiao Jie speaking at the event said BRICS countries should work towards reforming the global economic system since voice of the emerging economies that contribute 80% of global growth remains “gravely inadequate” in multilateral institutions.
Jaitley said India has proposed projects worth about $2 billion for NDB funding, which he hopes will be taken up by the Board expeditiously. “We shall work with the NDB to develop a strong shelf of projects in specific areas such as Smart Cities, renewable energy, urban transport, including Metro Railways, clean coal technology, solid waste management and urban water supply,” he added.
In the annual meeting, the five member board of governors will deliberate on Bank’s strategy for the next 5 years, including issues such as the Bank’s capital, loan portfolio and expansion of Membership. “The uniqueness of NDB should lie in faster loan appraisal, a lean organizational structure resulting in lower cost of loans, a variety of financing instruments, including local currency financing, adoption of country system whenever possible and flexibility in responding to the needs of the clients. These are the elements which would make NDB truly a “new” institution, and make it distinct from older MDBs (multilateral development banks),” Jailey said.

India to grow at 7.7% in 2018 in face of newer global challenges: Jaitley

New Delhi: India’s economic growth is expected to pick up in the coming years following a raft of reforms such as demonetisation and the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax, although developing countries face global challenges of trade restrictions, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday.
Addressing the second annual meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) in Delhi, Jaitley said a possible shift towards inward-looking policies and protectionism and a sharper than expected tightening in global financial conditions, the crisis in Europe and increased geopolitical tensions, posed a challenge to the emerging economies.
Citing the projections of International Monetary Fund, Jaitley said India’s GDP growth in 2016 would be 6.6%, while the same would be 7.2% and 7.7% in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The IMF projections for 2017 and 2018 corresponds with India’s financial years (April-March) 2017-18 and 2018-19.
India’s stats office, CSO, has estimated economic growth to slow to 7.1% in 2016-17 from 7.9% in the previous year. The government’s Economic Survey projects the GDP growth at 6.75-7.5% in 2017-18.
“We have successfully implemented a slew of reform measures,” Jaitley said listing out the demonetisation drive, passage of crucial bills in Lok Sabha to roll out the Goods and Services Tax, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy law, and relaxing foreign investment rules.
Jaitley said India wants $2 billion loans for various projects from the NDB, earlier called BRICS Bank as it set up by the emerging nations India, China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
“India has a huge unmet need for investment in infrastructure, estimated to the tune of Rs 43 lakh crore (about $646 billion) over the next five years,” he said.
About 70% of the funds will be required in the power, roads and urban infrastructure sectors, he said.
”This offers an enormous opportunity to an Institution like NDB, whose core mandate is sustainable infrastructure development. We shall work with the NDB to develop a strong shelf of projects in specific areas such as Smart Cities, renewable energy, urban transport, including Metro Railways, clean coal technology, solid waste management and urban water supply,” he summed up.

Regulatory changes will attract global investors to India: Christian Ulbrich, CEO, JLL INC

New Delhi: The outlook on Indian real estate has been turning positive from global investors’ perspective owing to regulatory reforms.
The policy initiatives, including the much-awaited implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Act is making real estate more attractive for large institutional investors, Christian Ulbrich , CEO - JLL, told Kailash Babar in an exclusive interaction.
India is clearly moving in the right direction which is inspiring confidence among global investors looking to invest in regions with a long-term view, he said. Edited excerpts.
How are foreign investors viewing the ongoing transformation in terms of regulatory developments, in Indian real estate?
India grew the fastest among major economies worldwide, at just over 7 per cent last year. It will continue to drive global growth in 2017, with its share in the world GDP expected to rise to 17 per cent. On the back of very positive changes in its regulatory framework, India is now a lot more attractive to foreign investors.
Some other important developments that will impact Indian real estate very favourably are the increased rate of consolidation, improved transparency and the fact that REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are very likely to be launched this year. Increased foreign and domestic investor participation is more or less a given in the times ahead.
More Fortune 1000 companies are now looking at increasing their exposure in India, attracted by the efforts being put in by the government on the country’s ‘ease of doing business’ rankings and the overall policy framework.
In particular, the office asset class will attract very significant interest from global investors in 2017. Foreign developers are actively pursuing strategic partnerships and are looking to forge more joint ventures in India, and Asian developers—particularly from China and Japan —will be investing about $3-4 billion into the country’s real estate sector over the next three years.
They are primarily focusing on mega industrial projects. Already, 2016 saw a very visible return of equity investments in India, and we witnessed private equity inflows here increase to the tune of 62 per cent from a year ago.
Last year alone, the total private equity inflows stacked up to Rs 38,000 crore, which is an impressive jump over the Rs 23,500 crore of 2015. This year is likely to emerge as even better than 2016, despite Brexit and the outcome of US presidential elections.
Where does the Indian real estate stand vis-à-vis global markets in terms of transparency? Will the Real Estate Regulatory Act and other policy changes help in improving accountability and transparency?
In JLL’s 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI), India’s tier-I cities edged up the 36th rank on the back of improvements in structural reforms & liberalisation of the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.
The 36th spot is among 109 countries and accounts for an improvement of 4 positions. Today, Indian tier-II cites rank higher than China’s tier-1.5 & tier-2 cities. Investors increasingly look at geographically diverse cities, local data availability & coverage.
While globally the divide between primary, secondary &tertiary cities is wide, India now presents a different case because there is the relatively consistent availability of data across its city tiers.
India’s less spectacular score in transaction process —or the high costs of investment transactions — and the weak professional standards among local agents will doubtlessly see improvement in the 2016-18 assessment period of JLL’s next Transparency Index. The enactment of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act and arrival of a reliable real estate regulator will play a key role here.
How would you rank India as a prospective REITs market for global investors?
The formation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will be a major disruptor by aiding the expansion of India’s quality real estate universe and giving developers another instrument to exit their projects.
India has a massive REIT potential, with around 229 million sq. ft of office space currently being REIT-compliant. Even with only about half of this being listed over the next few years, we are looking at a total REIT listing worth $18.5 billion. Moreover, as India’s stock of Grade-A and superior Grade-A commercial assets grows, it presents great opportunities for REITs and scores of their potential retail investors.
How is the Indian property market placed in the current international scenario with respect to pricing and investment transactions?
India is home to six of the world’s 30 most dynamic cities. In JLL’s City Momentum Index (CMI) 2017, the country’s primary IT and technology hub —Bengaluru —sits right on top. Indian real estate has attracted about $32 billion in private equity so far.
The global capital flows into Indian real estate in 2016 stood at nearly $5.7 billion. Globally, capital allocations to real estate are growing. We expect in the next decade, more than $1trillion will be targeting the sector globally, compared to $700 billion now.
This growth means investors are demanding further improvements in real estate transparency, and expecting the standards in real estate to be at least on a par with other asset classes.

India, Korea to cooperate on startups, tech transfer

New Delhi: The Government of India and the Government of South Korea have agreed to provide support to each other’s start-ups in accordance with their respective country's schemes and programmes, and also enhance cooperation in areas of technology transfer, joint ventures, business alliances and facilitation of mutual market access. The decision was made at Korea-India small and medium enterprise (SME) bilateral working group meeting, where the Korean delegation was led by Mr Young-sup Joo, SME Minister, and the Indian delegation was led by Mr Kalraj Mishra, Union MSME Minister, Government of India. The representatives of both the sides briefed about their respective policies for promotion and development of SMEs to have a better understanding of their policies and identify areas of cooperation. An Agreement has been made to form a joint task force to prepare the action plan on this proposal discussed and timelines by the end of 2017.

Govt awards 128 regional routes to Air India, Air Deccan, SpiceJet among others

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry on Thursday awarded first-ever regional flights based on a new subsidy model to five airlines that will expand flights to many new airports in the country.
Air India, Air Deccan, SpiceJet, Air Odisha and Turbo Megha have got rights to fly 128 routes which will require them to cap half the seats at about 50% of the fare.
Many of these airports will be served for the first time. These include airports like Shimla, Kandla, Puducherry, Bhatinda, Cooch Behar and Bilaspur among others.
Aviation secretary R.N. Choubey said Rs205 crore of subsidy will be provided to these airlines. Routes will be exclusive for three years.
UDAN, the regional aviation scheme which will be in operation for 10 years, envisages providing connectivity to unserved and underserved cities and towns by reviving existing airstrips and airports.
This would be achieved by providing financial stimulus in the form of central and state government concessions, as well as viability gap funding for interested airlines to kick off operations while ensuring passenger fares are kept affordable.
The fare for a one-hour journey of about 500km on a fixed wing aircraft or a 30-minute journey on a helicopter will be capped at Rs2,500, with proportionate pricing for routes of different lengths and duration.
However, many airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Jet Airways have gone to court against the levy imposed by the government on existing flights to fund UDAN. Since the levy was introduced by the government in December most have not paid the sum accrued from the levy to the government.

Centre to build 1 crore houses under PMAY-G by 2019

New Delhi: The Government today said that it has approved the construction of 1 crore houses with the financial implication of Rs. 81,975 crore for the period 2016-17 to 2018-19. The Minister of State for Rural Development Shri Ram Kripal Yadav said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that as per provisional figures of Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, approximately 4 crore rural households face housing deprivation. After accounting for the houses that were constructed under Indira Aawas Yojana, IAY and State sponsored housing schemes since 2011, it has been estimated that 2.95 crore more houses, with an anticipated variation of ± 10%, would need to be constructed to achieve the objective of ‘Housing For All’ by the year 2022.
In the first phase (from 2016-17 to 2018-19) one crore houses are targeted for construction under Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana-Grameen, PMAY-G. Targets for the remaining period (till 2022) will be decided after verification and finalisation of permanent wait lists, based on SECC 2011 data by all States/UTs. Shri Yadav said that to provide technical support in achieving the targets of “Housing for All” a National Technical Support Agency (NTSA) for Rural Housing shall be set up at the national level.
The Minister informed that to achieve the objective of ‘Housing for All’ various features have been incorporated into the scheme architecture of PMAY-G, some of which are as below:
(i) Availability of sufficient financial resources both in the form of budgetary support and borrowing from NABARD to meet the expenditure for construction of houses.
(ii) Electronic transfer of assistance under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to resolve problems of delayed payments and expedite completion.
(iii) Comprehensive online monitoring through the scheme MIS-AwaasSoft.
(iv) Inspection and Geo tagging of houses, through the mobile app- AwaasApp by beneficiaries to reduce delays.
(v) Increasing number of trained rural masons through Training, Assessment and Certification.
(vi) Setting up of Programme Management Unit (PMUs) at state and sub state level to review progress on a daily basis, provide requisite technical support and facilitation and plug gaps in implementation using administrative funds available under the scheme.

Hit by falling revenue, Twitter may collect subscription fees from premium users

Twitter is considering whether to build a premium version of its popular Tweetdeck interface aimed at professionals, the company said on Thursday, raising the possibility that it could collect subscription fees from some users for the first time.
Like most other social media companies, Twitter since its founding 11 years ago has focused on building a huge user base for a free service supported by advertising. Last month it reported it had 319 million users worldwide.






But unlike the much-larger Facebook Inc, Twitter has failed to attract enough in advertising revenue to turn a profit even as its popularity with US President Donald Trump and other celebrities makes the network a constant centre of attention.
Subscription fees could come from a version of Tweetdeck, an existing interface that helps users navigate Twitter.
Twitter is conducting a survey "to assess the interest in a new, more enhanced version of Tweetdeck," spokeswoman Brielle Villablanca said in a statement on Thursday.
She went on: "We regularly conduct user research to gather feedback about people's Twitter experience and to better inform our product investment decisions, and we're exploring several ways to make Tweetdeck even more valuable for professionals."
There was no indication that Twitter was considering charging fees from all its users.
Word of the survey had earlier leaked on Twitter, where a journalist affiliated with the New York Times posted screenshots of what a premium version of Tweetdeck could look like.
That version could include "more powerful tools to help marketers, journalists, professionals, and others in our community find out what is happening in the world quicker," according to one of the screenshots posted on the account @andrewtavani.
The experience could be ad-free, the description said.
Other social media firms, such as Microsoft Corp's LinkedIn unit, already have tiered memberships, with subscription versions that offer greater access and data.
In the fourth quarter of 2016, Twitter posted the slowest revenue growth since it went public four years earlier, and revenue from advertising fell year-over-year. The company also said that advertising revenue growth would continue to lag user growth during 2017.
Financial markets speculated about a sale of Twitter last year, but no concrete bids were forthcoming.

SAIL, BSNL, Air India worst performing PSUs in FY16: Survey

Coal India, ONGC and Indian Oil Corp emerged as star financial performers among India's central public sector enterprises in 2015-16, whereas SAIL, BSNL and Air India incurred most losses, a government survey has showed.
The Public Enterprises Survey, tracking the performance of CPSEs in 2015-16, revealed that the top three loss-making CPSEs -- SAIL, BSNL and Air India -- incurred a loss equal to 51.65 per cent of the total loss made by the top 10 loss-making CPSEs in 2015-16. SAIL entered the list of top 10 loss-making CPSEs, apart from ONGC Videsh, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, PEC and BHEL.




Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, STCL, Fertilizers and Chemicals (Travancore), Air India Engineering Services and Hindustan Fertilisers Corporation went to the profit zone in 2015-16.
The most profitable PSUs-Coal India, ONGC and IOC-contributed 17.82, 17.45 and 11.34 per cent, respectively, to the total profit earned by the top 10 profit-making CPSEs during the year, the survey tabled in Parliament revealed.
Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation and Mahanadi Coalfields entered the list of top 10 profit-making CPSEs, whereas NMDC and South Eastern Coalfields made their exit. The top 10 profit-making companies accounted for 63.46 per cent of the total profits made by all (165) CPSEs during the year. The top 10 loss-making companies claimed 79.81 per cent of the total losses made by all the 78 CPSEs during the year.

EU recommends suspension of over 300 generic drugs tested by Indian firm

Europe's medicines regulator has recommended the suspension of more than 300 generic drug approvals and drug applications due to "unreliable" tests conducted by Indian contract research firm Micro Therapeutic Research Labs.
The decision, announced by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on its website, is the latest blow for India's drug-testing industry, which has run into a series of problems with international regulators in recent years.
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Nobody at the Chennai-based company was immediately available to comment.
The EMA said European officials had been investigating Micro Therapeutic's compliance with good clinical practice after Austrian and Dutch authorities raised concerns in February 2016.
"The inspections identified several concerns at the company's sites regarding misrepresentation of study data and deficiencies in documentation and data handling," the agency said.
However, there is no evidence of harm or lack of effectiveness of the medicines, which include generic versions of many common prescription pharmaceuticals, including blood pressure tablets and painkillers.
The EMA's recommendation on the suspension of the medicines tested by Micro Therapeutic will now be sent to the European Commission for a legally binding decision valid throughout the European Union.
Drug tests carried out at Indian contract research organisations (CROs) have been key in getting a huge array of generic medicines approved for sale around the world over many years.
In 2015, Europe banned around 700 medicines that had been approved based on clinical trial data provided by GVK Biosciences, then India's largest CRO. Other smaller Indian CROs have also been found to have fallen short of required standards.
In the wake of such trial data scandals, many large drugmakers have been shifting more critical trials back to the United States and Europe over the last three years, according to consultants and industry executives.

RK Damani-led D-Mart stocks register over 100% returns on listing day

New Delhi: Market investor RK Damani-led retail store chain Avenue Supermarts, commonly known as D-Mart, witnessed more than 100% return on its debut on the domestic bourses on Tuesday.
The scrip of the company opened at Rs 604.40 per share on the BSE -- more than 100% premium over its issue price of Rs 299 apiece.
It closed with gains of 6.01% at Rs 640.75 per share, which accounted for a gain of 114.30% from its issue price.
“D-MART witnessed blockbuster opening and continued to trade higher throughout the session. Against issue price of Rs 299, it opened at around Rs 600 and continued gain till intra-day high of Rs 648.90,” Dhruv Desai, director and chief operating officer of Tradebulls, told IANS.
“More than 100% return was seen in the stock. It sustained the gains till the end of the trading session.”
Jimeet Modi, chief executive of SAMCO Securities, said in a note: “This listing will certainly qualify as the biggest listing of recent times in subscription and listing gains terms.”
“We can make a conclusion after looking at the facts of this initial public offering (IPO) that broader trend of the market is very much intact and more northwards and investors are ready to pay premium for quality.”
On March 8, the IPO of the retail chain was oversubscribed by 104.59%.