Natural rubber production surges 23% in 2016-17

Chennai: Natural rubber (NR) production in India rose 23 per cent to 690,000 tonnes during 2016-17, as against the anticipated 654,000 tonnes. In 2015-16, the production stood at 562,000 tonnes, down 12.5 per cent as compared to 2014-15.
NR production also showed an increase of 66.7 per cent to 55,000 tonnes in March 2017, as against 33,000 tonnes in March last year. Rubber Board officials attributed the increase to the improved market price and initiatives taken by the Board at the field level, including mass contact programmes, to improve production and productivity.
Rubber Board is bringing more untapped areas into production by grouping farmers under ‘Tappers Bank’, which works more like a self-help group. The Board has launched this on a pilot basis, and 60 rubber-producing societies were identified for it.
The Board is seeking to achieve the current rubber demand of around 10 lakh tonnes by producing domestically.
NR exports from the country during the last financial year were 20,010 tonnes, whereas these were only 865 tonnes in the preceding year.
The branding of NR, initiated by the Rubber Board, has helped Indian exporters to claim their market share as the quality assurance helped boost buyers’ confidence, according to the Rubber Board. About 65 per cent of the NR exported was under the brand ‘Indian Natural Rubber’.

RIL reclaims top slot by market value after 4 years, replaces TCS

New Delhi: Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has reclaimed its position as the country's most valued firm in terms of market capitalisation. The firm has replaced the former market leader, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), after a span of four years. The company's market capitalisation (m-cap) rose to Rs 4,60,519 crore (US$ 71.2 billion) , which was Rs 1,586.43 crore (US$ 245.62 million) higher than TCS’ m-cap of Rs 4,58,932 crore (US$ 71.08 billion). A sharp rally in the shares of Reliance has helped the company in closing the gap between TCS and itself. RIL stock has surged over 31 per cent in 2017, while that of TCS had slipped more than 1 per cent.

India aims to cut fuel imports as it boosts alternative fuel use, Gadkari says

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he Government of India plans to bring down its import of oil products and move towards using alternative fuels like methanol in the Indian transport sector, with an aim to reduce dependency on imports and be self-sufficient, said Mr Nitin Gadkari, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. The country plans to start fifteen factories that produce second generation ethanol from biomass, bamboo and cotton straw and aims to develop its mandate to blend ethanol into 5 per cent of its gasoline. India imported 33 million tonnes of oil products over April 2016 to February 2017, which was 24 per cent higher than the imports during the same period a year ago. India is the third largest consumer of oil and the domestic energy consumption is expected to increase as the country targets a higher economic growth.

RBI governor Urjit Patel says demonetisation effects 'transitory'

Mumbai/New York: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel said demonetisation imposed in 2016 probably had no more than a temporary effect on Asia’s third-largest economy, as lending continued to flow.
The “accumulating evidence points to” the effects of demonetisation as “transitory,” governor Urjit Patel, who took over from Raghuram Rajan in September, told an audience Monday at Columbia University in New York. “Credit is more important than currency, and credit was not affected at all.”
Authorities have been seeking to rein in liquidity after the government’s November recall of high-denomination currency notes flooded the banking system with cash. The excess funds not only threaten to stoke inflation, but have also constrained the RBI’s ability to intervene at a time when the rupee is rallying.
Households’ inflation expectations “continue to be adaptive and therefore difficult to bring down in a durable manner,” said Patel, who rarely appears in public.
In a bid to burnish the Reserve Bank of India’s credentials as an inflation-fighting central bank, Patel has called for “close vigilance” on inflation. Consumer prices rose 3.81% in March from a year earlier, having risen 3.65% in February. India’s central bank targets keeping inflation around 4 percent in the medium term.
Earlier this month, India unexpectedly raised the reverse repo rate while keeping the benchmark unchanged, effectively tightening policy to step up the fight against inflation.
Speaking about the world economy, Patel said Monday that the data point to a broad-based upswing in global growth, though risks remain, such as protectionism and geopolitics.
There is international push-back against trade talk emanating from the US, Patel said, defending the benefits of an open trading system. Companies’ share prices reflect benefits from global supply chains, and “if policies come in the way of that, then the main wealth creators in a country that advocates protectionism” are going to be affected, he said. Bloomberg

Medical tourism on the rise in India

Hyderabad: The country is witnessing 22-25 per cent growth in medical tourism and healthcare providers expect the industry will double to $6 billion by 2018 from $3 billion now.
The ministries of health, external affairs, tourism and culture are working to increase the number of medical tourists. The government provides online visas, multiple entries, extensions of stay, and accreditation to more hospitals. Several other measures are under way, according to the Indian Medical Association (IMA). “The government has improved the visa policy to make it patient friendly. There is no waiting time for foreign patients at hospitals,” said Radhey Mohan, vice president, international business development, at Apollo Hospitals. The chain received 170,000 foreign patients from 87 countries during 2016-17.
Medical tourists to India typically seek joint replacement surgeries, heart, liver and bone marrow transplants, spine and brain surgeries, cancer and kidney treatments, and in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Patients from Africa and the Middle East access private healthcare in India due to lack of facilities and doctors back home. Medical tourists from Europe and the US come here for cosmetic surgeries that are not covered by insurance. “We do bariatric surgery at $6,000-8,000, while it costs around $15,000 in the US. Almost 15-20 per cent of our surgical patients are from other countries,” said Dr Sukhvinder Singh Saggu, practising laproscopic surgeon at Apollo Spectra New Delhi.
Non-resident Indians, persons of Indian origin (PIOs) and overseas citizens of India (OCIs) prefer to come here for IVF and gynaecology treatments. “They spend only 30 per cent of what it costs in the US or UK. Moreover, they have family support here,” said Dr Kamini Rao, medical director at Milann — The Fertility Centre.
AV Guruva Reddy, managing director of the Hyderabad-based Sunshine Hospitals, said the general standard of hygiene and technology in Indian medical facilities had improved. The number of foreign tourists coming to the country for medical purposes increased 50 per cent to 200,000 in 2016 from 130,000 in 2015. This number is expected to double in 2017 with several new initiatives like easier visas for medical tourists.

Northern India can be a hub of renewable energy, says study

New Delhi: Northern India, with the potential of about 363 GW of power, can emerge as the hub for renewable energy in the country, said a study released on Friday.
The report titled ‘State Renewable Energy Policies: A Comparative Study’ was released by industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
It highlighted that southern and western regions of the country are fast moving up the renewable energy installed capacity graph. The study also stressed that the ecosystem of renewable energy in India is still fraught with constraints, particularly with respect to state policies.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable power target by 2022.
The CII report said that all northern states have come up with sector-specific policies to promote renewable energy. States that are counted in the northern region are Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chandigarh.
“These States have dedicated Solar (power) policies. However, very few States have specific policies for small hydro, except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand, and for wind only Rajasthan has a specific policy,” the report said.
“Even though most of the northern States have come up with their renewable energy policies, it is important to understand and imbibe the best incentives and practices depending on the need of the state/region,” it added.
As per the report, the northern region accounts for about 20.49%, which is about 10,247 MW, of the 50,018 MW overall installed capacity of renewable power in India (till 31 December 2016). In comparison, the southern region alone accounts for 43.42% (21,721.42 MW) of India’s total installed renewable power and the western region for 33.7% (16,861 MW).
“All 29 states of India are working relentlessly to make this a success and some major milestones have already been achieved. The northern states, in specific, already have and in the future will play a pivotal role in achieving the renewable energy target set out by the government,” the study said.
“The potential of northern region in the renewable space is huge with about 363 GW available to be exploited. Amongst the northern States, Rajasthan has the biggest renewable potential at 145,518 MW and the highest potential in both solar and wind capacities at 142, 310 MW and 5,050 MW respectively,” it added.
In terms of renewable potential, Rajasthan is followed by Jammu and Kashmir (118,208 MW), Himachal Pradesh (36,446 MW), Uttar Pradesh (27,593 MW), Uttarakhand (19,071 MW), Punjab (6,768 MW), Haryana (6,470 MW), Delhi (2,181 MW) and Chandigarh (6 MW).
It further emphasised that northern India also has a good potential for small hydro projects with Himachal Pradesh having the second highest small hydro potential in the country after Karnataka.

Niti Aayog meet: States to get greater say in new national planning regime

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief ministers on Sunday considered a new approach in policy planning that aims to give states a greater say in determining national priorities—including in internal security and defence—set out in a 15-year vision and a draft three-year short-term action plan ending 2019-20.
The vision document and the draft 300-point action plan prepared with suggestions from states and gram sabhas rest upon the spirit of cooperative federalism that succeeds the Nehruvian era’s centralized five-year planning that drew to a close on 31 March with the end of the 12th five year plan. They were discussed as part of the Niti Aayog’s third governing body meeting. The vision document projects the economy to grow more than three-fold to Rs469 lakh crore by 2031-32, from Rs137 lakh crore in 2015-16, assuming an 8% annual growth.
“Niti Aayog is a collaborative federal body whose strength is in its ideas, rather than in administrative or financial control,” an official statement quoted Modi as saying in his opening remarks to the think tank. He promised states that regional growth imbalance will be addressed both nationally and within states. The Prime Minister also suggested that states should take the lead in changing the financial year to January-December and “carry forward the debate and discussion on simultaneous elections.” The idea is better economic and political management of the country. Modi also urged states to put in place State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) laws without delay and to speed up capital expenditure and infrastructure creation.
Niti Aayog tweeted that the long-term national development agenda up to 2031-32 extend the traditional plan mandate to include internal security and defence. By 2031-32, the country should be “highly educated, healthy, secure, corruption-free, energy abundant, environmentally friendly and globally influential,” it said.
Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya told reporters after the meeting that the action plan assesses the revenue available to the union and state governments over the next three years to suggest enhanced spending on priority areas like health, infrastructure, agriculture and rural economy. The action plan will be finalized after states give their feedback.
The governing body also reviewed the progress in drafting a Regulatory Reforms Bill, a model Agriculture Land Leasing Act, changes to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act, a national energy policy and strategic disinvestment of state-owned enterprises.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made a presentation on doubling of farmers’ income, by focusing on irrigation, technology generation and dissemination, market reforms and livestock productivity.
The short-term action plan coincides with the remaining three years of the 14th Finance Commission’s award period ending in 2019-20 as it gives certainty on the cash flow of central and state governments for the period.
Shaping the country’s development plan with state governments consolidates the resetting of centre-state relations under the co-operative federalism achieved through higher untied fund allocation to states from the centre’s divisible pool of taxes (without specifying end-use) and the setting up of the goods and services tax (GST) Council, in which neither the Union nor the state governments can take decisions without the support of the other.
GST reflects the spirit of “one nation, one aspiration, one determination,” Modi said. He said that the share of central funds to states that are tied to specific central projects have come down from 40% of total allocation in 2014-15 to 25% in 2016-17 with a corresponding increase in funds which are not linked to specific schemes, giving states greater freedom in their utilization.
The meeting also reviewed Niti Aayog’s move to encourage states to excel in various governance parameters by comparing performance.
Experts welcomed the move to foster competition among states.
“Competitive federalism is a very good strategy. Comparing states on ‘ease of doing business’ is a good first step. Now states must be compared on the pace at which they are creating jobs and livelihoods, improving health and education for citizens, and developing local governance capabilities,” said Arun Maira, former member of the Planning Commission.
Modi said it was the collective responsibility of the gathering to envision the India of 2022—the 75th anniversary of independence—and see how the country could swiftly move forward the goals set in the vision document.
The prime minister told states that advancing of the Union budget date to 1 February in 2017 from the customary last day of the month was meant to make funds available for various schemes so that they could be utilized in time, especially for farming before the monsoon arrived. Dropping the distinction between plan and non-plan spending has enabled the authorities to focus on welfare spending, Modi said.

Make in India gets metro boost; local procurement made mandatory

New Delhi: With rapid expansion of metro rail projects in the country, Ministry of Urban Development has taken several far reaching decisions to promote Make in India campaign. These include stipulating certain mandatory conditions to be incorporated in Tender Documents of metro companies for procurement of metro cars and related critical equipment and sub-systems, procurement of only Made in India signaling equipment besides standardizing technical parameters for rolling stock (metro coaches) and signaling equipment.
The new mandatory Tender Conditions and standardized norms for a wide range of equipment, approved by the Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu have been circulated to all the metro companies on Friday this week making them effective immediately.
These initiatives will incentivize setting up manufacturing facilities in the country by increasing the volumes of procurement of rolling stock and all kinds of equipment by removing variations in the present technical norms for rolling stock and signaling equipment. This will in turn result in reduction of cost through economies of scale.
The Ministry has stipulated the following mandatory conditions to be incorporated in Tender Documents:
1. Minimum 75% of the tendered quantity of metro cars shall be manufactured indigenously with progressive indigenization of content, for which the contractor may either establish independent manufacturing facility in India or partner with Indian manufacturers, if the procurement is more than 100 cars;
2. To facilitate ease in maintenance through easy availability of spares beyond the warranty period, an identified list of critical equipment and sub-systems shall be included in the Tender Document for ensuring indigenous manufacturing of a minimum of 25% of such equipment, either by Original Equipment Manufacturers themselves by establishing a wholly owned subsidiary in India or through Indian manufacturers;
3. Requirement of metro cars at State level shall be clubbed to enable applicability of local procurement norms; and
4. To develop in-house expertise on long term basis, metro companies with large size fleet to undertake in-house maintenance.
A total number of 1,912 metro coaches are currently operational in the country with another 1,420 under procurement. Over the next three years more than 1,600 metro cars would be required. Each metro coach is estimated to cost about Rs.10 cr.
The Ministry has concluded the long pending standaridisation of norms for rolling stock and signaling equipment applicable to over 90% of the present imports. Further, to promote indigenous manufacturing, the Ministry has stipulated procurement of 9 types of signaling equipment from within the country. Metro companies have also been directed to develop maximum possible local competence so that knowhow and technical support is available within the country. Indian companies have to be associated with production of a wide range of signaling and train control project equipment.
Indigenization of several metro functions has also been prescribed. These relate to communication systems, managing operational disturbances, time table preparation, fault reporting, control traction power, maintenance, infrastructure supervision, rolling stock management etc.
The new standardized norms prescribe that the rolling stock and related equipment and systems shall enable Unattended Train Operations, Driverless Train Operations, Standard rail gauge of 1,435 mm, Metro cars with body width of 2.90 meters for passenger capacity of up to 45,000 Peak Hour Peak Distance capacity, body width of 3.20 meters for capacity above 45,000 PHPD, only 3 car, 6 car or 9 car rail combination, operational speed of 80 kmph, minimum 67% motorization for all rolling stock etc. Norms have also been prescribed for Acceleration Rates, Energy Consumption, Noise and Vibration levels, Collision Standards etc.
Further to these initiatives, Ministry of Urban Development will soon evolve common eligible criteria for suppliers of rolling stock and other equipment doing away with the present variations across different metro companies.
Shri Rajiv Gauba, Secretary(UD) discussed with Managing Directors of metro companies on Friday the variations in the present eligibility criteria. Noting that such variations adversely impact competition, he directed that a broadly uniform criteria in respect of Net Worth, Financial and technical capacities and experience of supply of rolling stock and other equipment etc should be evolved in two weeks.
Presently, metros are operating in 7 cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Chennai with a total route length of 326 kms. Metro projects with a total route length of 546 kms are under construction in 11 cities and projects with a total route length of 903 kms in 13 cities are under consideration.

Isro plans to mine energy from Moon by 2030 to help meet India needs

New Delhi: From launching 104 satellites at one go, enabling commercial roll out of lithium-ion batteries, to taking the lead in providing energy security, the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) is firing on all cylinders.
Apart from planning for manned missions to Moon, Mars and even aircraft development, Isro is now working on a plan to help India meet its energy needs from the Moon by 2030.
The premier space agency, credited with launching 225 satellites till date, plans to mine Helium-3 rich lunar dust, generate energy and transport it back to Earth.
This comes in the backdrop of successful testing of lithium-ion batteries developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre by the Automotive Research Association of India (Arai). This is expected to provide a fillip to India’s electric vehicles (EV) push. The government is now planning to transfer the technology to companies for commercial production of these batteries, reported Mint.
Isro’s lunar dust mine plans were revealed by Dr Sivathanu Pillai, professor at the space agency, in February.
Speaking at a conference in New Delhi, Pillai, former chief of BrahMos Aerospace, said that mining lunar dust was a priority programme for his organisation.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on 29 March, minister of state in charge of atomic energy and space Jitendra Singh said, “Technology is ready for transfer to Indian industries for undertaking the production of Li-ion batteries. BHEL has expressed interest in the transfer of technology.”
This lunar dust mining plan comes in the backdrop of India’s plan to cut down import dependence in hydrocarbons by 10 percentage points by 2022. India’s energy demand growth is expected to outpace that of the other Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, according to the latest BP Energy Outlook.
Isro’s success on this front will also help reduce pollutants and India’s fuel imports. This assumes significance given India’s energy import bill of around $150 billion, which is expected to reach $300 billion by 2030. India imports around 80% of its oil and 18% of its natural gas requirements. India imported 202 million tonnes of oil in 2015-16.

Rural Electrification eyes Rs10,000 crore renewables lending push

New Delhi: Rural Electrification Corp (REC), a government-owned company backing India's power sector, is planning to triple its lending in the clean-energy sector by setting aside about Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) for financing renewable energy projects, evacuation infrastructure and equipment manufacturers in FY 2017-18.
Mr P V Ramesh, Chairman, REC stated that the company plans to mobilize resources via green bonds in Europe and social impact bonds in Scandinavia. The company is also interested in investing in Tesla Inc, electric vehicles manufacturer, if it enters the Indian market. REC's lending shift to clean energy is influenced by Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi's vision of 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity addition by 2022.